Turns out even more of you are doctors (and nurses) than I expected

And you have a LOT to say...

Maybe we need to change the name to The Journal of the Unreported Medical Truths.

Yesterday’s poll, which was open to healthcare professionals only, received more than 1500 votes. One-third of you are physicians. Another third are nurses. Ten percent identified as scientists or healthcare executives. (Full poll results below.)

Obviously, that’s just a fraction of UT’s medical readership.¹ Still, I’m happy so many of you participated. Even better are your comments about the state of medicine and biomedical research, which top 250 and are still coming in. Dozens more have emailed me directly. I confess I have not had the time to read them all, but I wanted to highlight some of the best so far and keep the conversation going.

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(Only paid subscribers can comment, so please sign up and join the discussion!)

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[Edited only for length — these are your words.]

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At a nearby hospital 6 new operating rooms were completed one year ago. More and more cath labs are being built, a new “hybrid” cardiovascular OR is being built, a new endoscopy suite with 5 procedure rooms has just opened, and a new neuro IR [interventional radiology] suite has been recently completed… neuro IR also performs a procedure called meningeal artery embolization in an attempt to reduce the risk of recurrent subdural hematoma. Yet, JAMA just last week posted a recent trial showing that this technique of MME does NOT statistically reduce the incidence of recurrent SDH compared to medical management.²

But the hospital has to perform procedures at all costs “to recoup the cost of the “building!” The hospital has become a place to perform relentless procedures. It’s not about advocating for healthier lives and lifestyles. That approach doesn’t pay the bills so to speak!

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Suppose for a moment that childhood vaccinations do lead to autism and other problems. Why has the research world not figured it out? Let's think about the research world. If you are a graduate student in the biomedical sciences, would you choose to do research that led to "anti-vax" findings? No, because it would kill your job prospects for getting a post-doc or in industry, and you would have a hard time getting funding. If you are a post-doc, the same thing - it will kill your chances of getting a faculty position or a job in industry, or funding for your research. If you are junior faculty, the same.

The only one who is free is the person near retirement on their last grant. And they don't have enough time left to do the work that's needed. Much easier to be a conservative in a humanities department than someone taking on the 3rd rail of vaccines in biomedical or public health departments.

Heck, Alex, even you are afraid to look at childhood vaccinations, so far.

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[And a different perspective, one many of you may disagree with… but he’s right about the need to fight audience capture.]

You were one of the first to blow the whistle on the “medical marijuana” propaganda and later on the Covid hysteria. I figure you’ve earned the right to my attention. BUT you still need to guard against audience capture. Our health care system is absurdly expensive.

But there’s no conspiracy to “keep people sick”, your doctor isn’t being paid by “Big Pharma”, vaccines do NOT cause autism, and treating kids for ADD makes them LESS likely to become drug addicts³, not more. Such lies are dangerous to patients and our society. Tell Your Audience: The Truth About Everything.

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(The poll results, mainly to break up the text…)

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I am a physician and my wife is a RN. Neither of us took the jab and never will. For the life of me I cannot understand anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of medicine would take an experimental injectable drug that tricks your cells into producing a toxin so supposedly your immune system recognizes and forms antibodies. That is simply not a vaccine, hence why the definition was changed.

I subscribe and appreciate your work despite not agreeing with everything which is fine, no one agrees with another on everything.

Please keep the pressure on the medical establishment. I am convinced so many are bought by pharma and corrupt to the core. Big money can and does cause people to do bad things.

I believe Fauci belongs in prison, and public health has lost all trust and may never regain it unless they come clean which we know they'll never do.

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I trained at an Ivy-League medical school and residency. I trusted everything I was taught. I had an interest in complementary/alternative medicine, but mostly I trusted standards of care. Until one of my own children had a severe neurodevelopment regression at the age of 2.4 (after developing beautifully--physician friends would comment on his excellent language and motor skills). The medical establishment failed him and our family. He is now 17 and has profound, minimally verbal "autism" although I now think that most regression is driven by neuroimmune disorders.....

I began reading and researching everything I could get my hands on. I realized our drug and biologics safety systems are horrid. I began to understand how corrupt Pharma-funded research is. I began to appreciate the serious and pervasive conflicts of interest at EVERY LEVEL of our medical-research establishment. From Pharma funding at med schools, residencies, continuing education.....to what research gets funded....the the capture of regulatory agencies....the corruption of scientific journals.

Honestly, it makes me sad to be a physician.

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(If you’ve gotten this far, you’re a critical thinker. Support critical thinking. Support UT.)

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I am a physician. I found you during early Covid, unfortunately after I had gotten the shots. (I spent several months trying to get myself feeling "normal" again.) I thought your books and commentary were a bright light in the hysteria fog. I had already dropped my membership in some medical societies as they were so obviously political, but as I read your papers, the giant lightbulb went on. I lost faith in "reporting" both in the media and in the medical institutions.

As I began to read the many so-called studies touted by the CDC and others supporting the shots and masking, I was stunned and horrified by how terrible these studies were and how faulty and dangerous the conclusions were, and how widely these conclusions were being spread to the public and medical communities.

Now, at the end of my career, I have become more of a consumer of healthcare, for myself and family members, and I am amazed at the lack of critical thinking that passes for healthcare. So much of what passes as medicine involves taking a pill for every abnormal test and adhering to painfully outdated diet recommendations without any thought given to the actual patient.

You obviously have the ability to think critically, and while you have no formal medical training, (and maybe because of that), you ask excellent questions. You hit me over the head with a 2 by 4 and smacked me back into my training (40 years ago) where critical thinking was taught and valued. Please continue what you are doing.

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Thank you. I’ll keep trying — with your help (and I don’t just mean financial, I mean tips for story ideas and being able to run specific questions past subject matter experts).

Onward.

1. Some of you - especially from Texas and Tennessee - find the references to UT distracting. One wag suggested I change the name to Unreported Truths International - UTI. Clever!

2. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2834971 To be fair, treated patients did have a slightly lower chance of reoccurence, but the difference did not reach statistical significance.

3. I strongly disagree with his ADD argument - I think the studies claiming that kids who get amphetamines are less likely to abuse them or other drugs in the future are deeply methodologically flawed. But we can argue that another day.