David Ancell / Saturday, September 09, 2006 / Comments(0)
I have been somewhat known and often criticized for being rather doubtful of the work of so-called “experts.” Having spent quite a bit of my time in situations that required evaluation of academic literature, I have an idea of some things that can affect one’s research. That’s why I wrote this article when I was in pharmacy school and had to make more use of medical literature.
This article by James Fitzpatrick captures the problem well. People tend to look for things that support their ideas. Many of the people who sponsor studies, by the way, have some kind of interest (possibly financial) in a certain outcome. They may not publish the study if they don’t achieve it. Also, the literature in general has a tendency of “publication bias.” This means that studies with positive results are more likely to be published. Few want to read mountains of studies saying that “Drug X doesn’t do anything.” It is often not a big deal, but if there are studies that contradict the positive results that are being published, then we really need to know about them.
Also, the study results in clinical trials can vary by the kind of patient used. One study may show a drug as a miracle worker. A second study may show that people who get the drug die just as much as people who don’t get the drug. However, it may be that the patients in the second study were sicker than the ones in the first.
Finally, the endpoint of the study, the very thing one is trying to find out (to simplify the definition), may not be as significant as it appears to be. For example, drug X may have superior results to other drugs on the market for lowering blood pressure. However, it may turn out that the drug is rather toxic, and it kills people faster than the high blood pressure would have. So, looking only at blood pressure wouldn’t give a complete picture. How do people get away with this? Well, mortality studies are usually long and very, very expensive to conduct, so people have to do what they can to see if the drug has an effect that we believe correlates with longer and healthier life. In the fictional example I cited, we were wrong.
So, I am not particularly eager to embrace the latest trend cited by “experts.” Our culture seems to think that whatever is newest is always best. However, new does not always mean improved. Expertise does not mean that the knowledge one gains is correct. After all, how many people do you suppose have advanced degrees in theology from schools that are Catholic in name only. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t assume that they know their stuff.
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David Ancell / Saturday, September 09, 2006 / Comments(0)
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s executive order requiring pharmacists to dispense the morning-after pill has been met with a lawsuit claiming (rightfully, of course) religious discrimination. He tried to get the judge to dismiss the suit, but but the judge didn’t go for it. Judge Scott realized that this order issued as an “emergency” may very well have been intended to target pharmacists who object to dispensing these pills, which can easily be abortifacient.
This lawsuit may well have far-reaching effects. I hope and pray that the pharmacists win the suit. It will go along way towards stopping a potential trend that may make it nearly impossible for anyone with sincere moral convictions, especially Christian convictions, to practice in any health care field. The last thing we need in this country is a health care system that admits only those who are at least willing to comply with the Culture of Death, if not outright supporters of it.
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David Ancell / Tuesday, September 05, 2006 / Comments(0)
Could someone please tell me the logic in saying that Pope John Paul II is an assassin because he rejected condom use. Granted, this isn’t the first time I’ve heard this. I remember one columnist in a nationally-known newspaper who said that the teaching amounts to genocide. We all know that people who are committing fornication and whatever else they might be doing are avoiding condoms for fear of sinning, NOT!!
It seems that people treat condoms as the magic bullet. Nevermind that the only country in Africa to reduce the incidence of AIDS advocated abstinence and faithfulness first. I see people all the time saying that “abstinence doesn’t work.” That just isn’t so! If you abstain, your likelihood of being infected decreases dramatically. The only way you have of getting it is some kind of accidental exposure, like in health care. Of course, abstinence works.
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David Ancell / Monday, September 04, 2006 / Comments(0)
Some of you may recall that I’m having a hard time doing a podcast now. It is taking more work than I expected, especially this next one. I have it mostly scripted, and I hoped I’d be done before the weekend. Well, it doesn’t look like this is going to happen, but hopefully before next weekend I’ll be done. This will probably be a bit longer than normal. By no means will I be able to tell every trick of the trade, but I’ll do my best. If you haven’t unsubscribed yet, I appreciate your patience.
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David Ancell / Monday, August 28, 2006 / Comments(0)
NOTE: I just read some stuff on the regrettable decision by the FDA to make the morning-after pill available without a prescription. The site named PharmacyOneSource posted some students’ opinions on this. Most of them were moral relativism, and a few said that they covered the issue in ethics class. I posted a comment on their board, and the text of it is below.
It seems that something has been lost in this discussion about a pharmacist’s right to refuse to dispense certain medications. Almost every post takes it for granted that whether the use of a morning-after pill is immoral is simply a matter of opinion. Well, if that were so, then I’d be one to dispense this whether I agreed with one’s opinion or not.
However, there seems to be so little consideration of a larger issue. Are we taking a human life by using this medication, at least some of the time (e.g. in use after ovulation)? Well, either we are or we aren’t. Both can’t be true.
Maybe some people will read this and think we just don’t know, so why worry. Well, if we really don’t know whether we have a human life or not, we should err on the side of caution. We wouldn’t fumigate a building until we knew everyone was out. We wouldn’t do so simply on the basis of not knowing whether there was anyone there or not.
The question that I see is: Do we care about whether we are extinguishing a human life? Well, either we will be called to give an account one day, or we won’t. Both can’t be true. Once again, it seems dangerous not to err on the side of caution here.
Many in our profession live with the idea that we can’t know anything that isn’t provable by science. Well, if so, then prove that by science! Many “ethics” classes that are being presented (including the one that I suffered through) are hindered by this. They are closed-minded to even the possibility that there may be a truth in this matter that binds all of us.
Well, by now I’m sure you are aware of where I am coming from. Simply put, we will have to give an account of what we did to preserve human life at any stage. We can’t afford to shrug this off as a matter of opinion.
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David Ancell / Saturday, August 26, 2006 / Comments(0)
Weird Al Yankovic has a new album coming out this month. He’s offered a free download of a song entitled Don’t Download This Song. As far as I can tell, it appears to be completely original. So, go ahead, download it and listen.
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David Ancell / Friday, August 25, 2006 / Comments(0)
This may be old news for some of you, but the FDA approved the sale of Plan B without a prescription. I was hoping I’d never see this as I can think of several reasons why this shouldn’t be. You can find them in this letter that I wrote. They are planning to make these available behind the pharmacy counter so that people can ask a pharmacist for them. This means that someone at the pharmacy has to be involved in the act, which is going to impute at least some of the guilt of the act to them.
This gives people just one more way to send themselves to Hell. This must be overturned. What really makes me sick is the chair of Barr who says he wants this available without a prescription to younger teens. I pray for his conversion. Teenagers can be reckless enough without this kind of help, and so can some older people.
The bottom line is that this drug shouldn’t be available at all. It is an abortifacient. Once can’t simply declare it otherwise by changing a personal definition of pregnancy.
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David Ancell / Sunday, August 20, 2006 / Comments(0)
For those who are wondering what happened to my podcast, don’t worry. I will be back. I just haven’t had quite so much time lately. I guess I haven’t blogged much lately either. This past weekend, I was visiting my parents. I wanted to play with my MacBook Pro away from home. At first, I had quite a time getting the authentication right, but once it worked, it really worked.
I’m liking this thing more and more. I’m carrying it to hot spots just to play with it. I’m in a McAllister’s Deli now. It works great. The main advantage it has is that it boots in 30 seconds, so I don’t usually have my food before the darn thing is finished booting. This is a lot of fun.
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David Ancell / Monday, August 14, 2006 / Comments(0)
Thanks to Catholic World News, I found out about this interview with Pope Benedict XVI. Rather than trying to highlight it, I’d recommend that you take a look at it. It isn’t too long, and it is well worth reading.
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David Ancell / Friday, August 11, 2006 / Comments(0)
I don’t know about you, but I’d sure hate to have been a customer at this parking garage. The cars were all held hostage while the city was in a dispute with a software company. Can’t we all get along?
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