Blind Spots
When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health
(amazon)Marty Makary, M.D. (View Bio)
Hardcover: Bloomsbury, 2024.
From Johns Hopkins medical expert Dr. Marty Makary, the New York Times-bestselling author of The Price We Pay—an eye-opening expose of the conventional medical “wisdom” that has led the public to harm, and how we can correct this.
One in thirteen children in the United States today has a peanut allergy. Why? In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a strict recommendation that parents avoid giving their children peanut products until they're three years old. Thinking peanut avoidance would prevent peanut allergies but getting the science perfectly backward, triggering intolerance with lack of early exposure, the US now leads the world in peanut allergies per capita-and this misinformation is still rearing its head in our pediatric science and parenting alike.
When modern medicine issues recommendations based on good scientific studies, it shines. Conversely, when modern medicine is interpreted through the harsh lens of opinion and edict, it can mold dogmas and popular beliefs that harm patients and stunt research for decades. In Blind Spots, the renowned doctor explores how some of the biggest public health recommendations of modern medicine have been quietly reversed, some without the public knowing. Including insight into the cholesterol in eggs, estrogen recommendations for menopausal women, the role of the microbiome, and the overuse of antibiotics, the backstories to these popular beliefs can be absurd, entertaining, and jaw-dropping-but the truth is essential to our health.
"The medical establishment suffers from a reluctance to reexamine its own beliefs in light of new evidence, according to this impassioned cri de coeur. Makary, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital, discusses how a 2002 study on hormone replacement therapy reported that the treatment causes breast cancer, even though its data didn’t support that conclusion. Though the initial error may have arisen from a rushed publication process, the lead authors still insist on the erroneous correlation despite not being able to point to any supporting evidence in their own study. Elsewhere, Makary argues that the modern epidemic of deadly peanut allergies can be attributed to the American Academy of Pediatrics’ misguided recommendation that young children be shielded from nuts (subsequent research has shown that 'peanut abstinence causes peanut allergies'), a suggestion drawn from a misreading of a single research paper. The sensational case studies demonstrate the depths of doctors’ intransigence, and Makary’s clinical experience offers penetrating insights into the psychological mechanisms at play, as when he attributes a colleague’s stubborn refusal to accept that appendicitis can be effectively treated by antibiotics to his urge to believe that the countless appendectomies he had performed previously were necessary. Incisive and damning, this is a much-needed wake-up call." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"[Makary's] critical eye is well suited to this clinically sound report.... An eye-opening look at how the American medical industry's rigidity has stunted its reliability." — Kirkus Reviews
"This book serves as a wake-up call…. An essential read for anyone looking to understand the pitfalls of modern medicine and the path to a more effective and compassionate approach to healthcare." — Peter Attia M.D., Author of Outlive
"When patients turn to professional societies like the AMA or the American College of Physicians or the American Association of Pediatrics for vital health information, one might expect that the information is based on publications in prestigious medical journals of carefully designed and meticulously interpreted studies. Dr. Marty Makary, in his book Blind Spots, shows how wrong these assumptions can be.... Makary proves his case against groupthink in medicine.... Readers will find this book interesting if they have not had much of a background in biomedical science. It is clear, concise, and well-documented. They may ask a few more questions at their yearly checkup, and that is a good thing." — Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, Washington Free Beacon (Read the full review)
