The Skeptical OB

Imagine a study that compared in hospital blood transfusion rates to death rates. What would you conclude if that study found that people who received blood transfusions were more likely to die than those who did not? Would you postulate that blood transfusions caused deaths? Would you recommend that blood transfusions be withheld? Of course […]

At first it seems confusing and out of place; they weren’t celebrating their heritage, real or imagined. So why did protesters in Michigan — as far north from the Deep South as you can possibly be and still be in the US — wear Confederate garb and carry Confederate flags? Because COVID denialism is primarily […]

It’s not difficult to recognize that this husband is abusive: My daughter, 10 months old has recently started biting during breastfeeding… [M]y breasts kind of look like a war zone- I’m bleeding and sore because of the biting and simply cannot take it anymore. … My husband does not like this. He was okay with me […]

The lactivist community is obsessed with the idea that breastmilk might contain antibodies against the virus that causes COVID-19. [Rebecca] Powell is an assistant professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine who studies the immune properties of human breast milk. Her lab is hoping to pin down whether breast […]

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, killing thousands of Americans, the “Greatest Generation” recognized we had been attacked, rallied to enlist in the defense of our country, willingly accepted privation and worked tirelessly for victory. Can you imagine what would have happened if the Left denied we were attacked or if […]

George Santayana’s most famous quote is used so often that it has become a cliche: Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. It’s just as true in epidemiology as it is in history. That’s why this graph may save your life. It’s a graph of the US death rate during […]

Faced with the pandemic of COVID-19 the Trump administration has done everything wrong and tens of thousands of people have died as a result. Trump suppressed information about the threat of the pandemic. He lied about the dangers of the virus. He refused to allow use of the test that would have identified early cases. […]

Anti-elitism killed John McDaniel. On social media McDaniel publicly disparaged efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19. One screenshot of a post dated March 13 included an accusation that the virus was a “political ploy.” “If you’re paranoid about getting sick, just don’t go out,” another post allegedly said. “It shouldn’t keep those of us […]

In the last 30 years we have engaged in a huge public health campaign to increase the use of car seats. Not only have we spent millions, we’ve enacted laws that actually make it illegal for parents to drive infants without buckling them into car seats. The campaign has been spectacularly successful. According to the […]

It’s difficult to imagine anything more soul searing for a mother than the thought that her baby died as a result of her choice. People Magazine reported: Kara Keough Bosworth and her husband Kyle Bosworth are mourning the loss of their newborn son, McCoy Casey. In an emotional Instagram post on Tuesday, the daughter of […]