I have recently published a series of articles exposing how the arrogance of the medical fraternity caused deaths in the 19th century[1]Smallpox[2]How medical arrogance kills[3]John Snow and Cholera. Reading the articles, many people may think that today we have modern science making sure that these episodes are so much history. It’s not history.
Ben Goldacre, is an award-winning writer and broadcaster, and was trained in medicine at Oxford and London, a former physician and now works full time as an academic[4]Ben Goldacre. Among his books is an expose on the pharmaceutical industry that should be required reading for every doctor, and politician.
The results of drug trials are manipulated to produce the false impression that drugs work, when they do not, or that they work better than existing drugs, when they do not, and that there are minimal side effects, when in fact, some of the side effects are fatal.
Watch Ben Goldacre as he addresses the issue of publication bias, then read his book[5]Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients: