🌟 think medicine is “settled science”? not so fast. 🌟
📘 Blind Spots by Johns Hopkins surgeon Dr. Marty Makary is a page-turner about how bad incentives, groupthink, and overconfidence turn shaky ideas into “standard of care.” If you’ve ever felt like some advice just doesn’t add up, this book hands you the decoder ring.
10 SHOCKING Medical Facts from Blind Spots (and why they matter)
1) Avoiding peanuts actually fueled peanut allergies.
For years, parents were told to delay peanuts—then ERs filled with anaphylaxis. The book traces how early exposure, not avoidance, reduces risk; that U-turn took years to reach the public.
2) Millions of women were scared off hormone therapy—on overblown fears.
Makary recounts how a high-profile study’s interpretation froze out menopausal HRT, leading to needless suffering before nuance returned.
3) Early antibiotics can echo for years.
Handing out antibiotics to infants and toddlers can disrupt the microbiome—linked in research to higher risks of asthma, obesity, and attention problems. Makary flags this as a blind spot that’s only now getting daylight.
4) Fluoride was treated as harmless—yet studies link prenatal exposure to lower kids’ IQ.
Makary points to emerging evidence, including a 2019 JAMA Pediatrics study and a 2024–25 meta-analysis associating higher fluoride exposure with lower cognitive scores in children. Debate continues, but the signal can’t be waved away.
5) Eggs (and natural dietary fat) were demonized for decades… unnecessarily.
The anti-fat crusade pushed people toward ultra-processed carbs. Makary revisits the data—and why “cholesterol in food = heart attacks” never panned out the way headline slogans claimed.
6) Premature babies were once operated on without anesthesia.
As recently as the late 20th century, some clinicians claimed preemies didn’t feel pain; major procedures went ahead without anesthesia. Makary spotlights this grim chapter—and how it lasted so long.
7) You might not need surgery for appendicitis.
For many cases, antibiotics-first can be a safe option—yet practice still depends on who’s on call. Makary uses appendicitis to show how slow medicine can be to update dogma.
8) The delay in HIV blood screening cost lives.
Before modern tests, thousands contracted HIV from contaminated blood and blood products—especially people with hemophilia. Bureaucratic caution and denial slowed action.
9) “Opioids are non-addictive” wasn’t just a rumor—experts said it.
A widely cited 1980 NEJM letter (“addiction is rare”) was weaponized to sell a false sense of safety—helping ignite a catastrophe. Makary calls out how a few lines of text morphed into doctrine.
10) Medical dogma often silences challengers.
From peanut policy to pain in newborns, dissenters were ignored or punished. Makary shows how prestige, perverse incentives, and gatekeeping let weak ideas rule for decades—until the evidence finally breaks through.
Why this book hits different
Makary’s not heckling from the cheap seats—he helped mainstream surgical safety checklists and has spent years pushing for transparency. Blind Spots blends receipts, storytelling, and practical questions you can use the next time someone says “because guidelines.”
Want the full story?
If you care about safe, effective, affordable health, this is essential reading.
Question everything. Protect yourself and your loved ones.
Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health by Marty Makary, MD — Bloomsbury (2024).
Grab a copy here. https://amzn.to/4lUFtKe
Educational summary of the book’s claims. Not medical advice.
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