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http://www.theguardian.com/help/contact-us On 14 Dec 2013, at 18:37, John Bibby wrote: > In Today's Guardian Denis Campbell reports that "seriously ill patients admitted at weekends are at a 12% higher risk of dying than weekday arrivals because they often are treated by more junior medical staff and have to wait for crucial diagnostic tests." > > Should we report this to the "Bad Journo" watchdog? > > It seems to have at least three "Bad Journo" characteristics: > > 1. It gives no indication of what the level of risk is. (A one-in-a-million risk is still very small even if increased by 12%, a one-in-ten risk less so. We need to know the true value.) > > 2. The "because ...." bit suggests clear causation. Now call me a sceptic, but I don't believe that Campbell has clear evidence of causation. (While (1) is merely a sin of omission, this is more clearly a sin of commission.) > 3. There is no indication of where the 12% figure comes from. Did Campbell make it up? I doubt it, but he really should provide the link - at least on the Grauniad website, even if not in the printed version. > Is anyone with me on this? Do we need a "Bad Journo" campaign to obliterate things like this? > > JOHN BIBBY > > PS: I wanted to copy this to the author, but can't find his email address. His Twitter account is @Denis_Campbell - does anyone know how to retweet this email to him please? > > > > > > > > > > > > Quite apart from where the data is (I guess it is out there somewhere - can anyone help me on this, please), this seems to me to have at least two of the > > > > > > You may leave the list at any time by sending the command > SIGNOFF allstat > > to [log in to unmask], leaving the subject line blank. > You may leave the list at any time by sending the command SIGNOFF allstat to [log in to unmask], leaving the subject line blank.