Thursday, October 26, 2006

Study finds that stupid studies can kill people!


---------------------------
from: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn10380&feedId=online-news_rss20

Nicotine given to intensive care patients to ease their withdrawal from cigarettes may put them at a greater risk of death than going "cold turkey", researchers say.

A preliminary study of more than 200 smokers placed in intensive care suggests they are better off simply enduring withdrawal symptoms than receiving nicotine replacement therapy (NRT).

---------------------------

Ok, first off I should state that I am a smoker. I know its bad for me, but I have 4 reasons for doing this which can be found in a future post.

Back to the story. It turns out the strange part of this clinical study is that it reveals why we have so many malpractice deaths. What did Bekele Afessa and his fellow geniuses at the Mayo clinic think would happen when they slapped a deadly poison onto patients? They "expected to find that patients comforted by (NRT) fare better than smokers who do not receive it".

Now I listened to someone who saw Patch Adams and know about the healing power of comedy, but methinks its not the laughing-at-you variety of comedy that heals. This study was way over the line. Speaking of which it takes 1000 mg of cocaine to kill you and only 40 mg of nicotine for a lethal dose. but these guys are doctors, not mathematicians.


Oh well, at least the Mayo clinic isn't revered as one of the best hospitals in America or anything, and hey when Rob Reiner wants a study, Rob Reiner gets a study ;-)

-JP

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home