Something to be aware of...

I've read about such things before, but I thought this new article was a very good presentation of the general issue(s):

Dark Side of Medical Research: Widespread Bias and Omissions
By Jeremy Hsu, LiveScience Senior Writer (posted on June 24)

Many patients may not know the full story about their drugs or medical treatments because of a widespread problem involving unpublished or biased clinical trials, according to mounting evidence.

Oftentimes, medical journals or pharmaceutical companies that sponsor research will report only "positive" results, leaving out the non-findings or negative findings where a new drug or procedure may have proved more harmful than helpful.

A new review of research about this problem points to hidden or misleading studies for all sorts of conditions, including depression, Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes, menopausal symptoms and cancer, said researchers at the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) in Germany.

"You can't say this is an isolated problem," said Beate Wieseler, deputy head of IQWiG's Drug Assessment Department. "It's widespread, and it affects drug companies, universities and regulatory authorities."

. . . .

[ Click the headline link above to read the full article. ]

I would hope that I'm not the only one who is troubled by the issues such articles raise. I'm not saying there's anything that we the general public can do about such things, but I do think it's important to just be aware that the system may have potentially serious flaws. As an unfortunate result it appears you can't just simply trust that your doctor always has the best or all information or even for that matter accurate information regarding treatment options (typically medicines) for various conditions.

Anyway, I simply recommend you read it for yourself and then tuck the ideas away in your brain somewhere for future reference if—God forbid!—you may find yourself in a situation where you have to decide a course of action to deal with some serious medical problem for either yourself or a family member.