Media and Medicine

Physicians writing on KevinMD about how the news covers medicine: bad science in headlines, misinformation and how to answer it, television doctors and the physician as influencer, drug stigma in photographs, and what it costs a patient when a story gets it wrong. Most of the archive dates from 2008 to 2016, when medical journalism was a daily argument on the site; the recent posts are about misinformation and reputation.

The one-dimensional doctor is going extinct

Elizabeth Agyeman Prempeh, MD

Physician

August 6, 2026

I was recently watching the wedding and honeymoon vlog of one of my favorite content creators. Weddings are fascinating milestones. It is probably the only moment in your entire life where you get absolutely every person you love gathered together in one single room. You are the undisputed center of attention. All eyes are on you, and the atmosphere is pure, concentrated love.

But as I was watching those perfect moments …

5 principles for protecting physician reputation

Gerald Kuo

Conditions and Diseases

May 27, 2026

Health care workers understand the power of a record.

One sentence in a medical chart can follow a patient for years. A diagnosis, a risk label, or a preliminary impression may shape how future clinicians see that person. That is why we are taught to document carefully, update records when new information appears, and avoid turning uncertainty into a permanent label.

Public institutions should follow the same principle. When a state medical …

How to spot bad science in medical news

M. Bennet Broner, PhD

Conditions and Diseases

October 1, 2025

We often see media headlines or articles about scientific and medical advancements promising imminent treatments or cures. I am not referring to advertisements that frequently masquerade as stories for naturopathic, homeopathic, or other unproven remedies, but rather those from supposedly reliable sources, such as CBS, Yahoo, or the Chicago Tribune.

Reporters or news writers often compose them, despite lacking training in science or medical reporting. They frequently make inappropriate assumptions and …

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How to spot bad science in medical news

How photos shape drug stigma—and what we can do about it

Jeffrey Hom, MD, MPH, MSHP

Physician

July 27, 2025

Well before I was a physician, I was an art history major at Bowdoin College. Beneath towering pine trees, I spent much of my time in dim lecture rooms off the quad and in the quiet galleries of Maine’s art museums, studying paintings, sculptures, and photographs to understand not just what was being portrayed, but also what they revealed about the people, places, ideas, and defining events of their time. …

How fake news about transgender mice is hurting real patients

Cooper Urban

Health Policy

April 23, 2025

Poisoned puppies, rats on cocaine, transgender mice: these might sound like the beginning of a bizarre joke, but they’re at the center of growing political attacks on medical and scientific research. Senator Ted Cruz calls it the “woke nonsense” of the Biden administration’s “far-left ideology,” and Donald Trump has amplified the message, using a primetime congressional address to claim researchers are attempting to turn mice transgender. In a House committee …

How physicians can fix media bias with science

Howard Smith, MD

Physician

August 19, 2024

The assassination attempt is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. The “gaslighting” is over. The rules for truth by legacy media are never examined for objectivity. We do not have the Inquisition in the United States; we have the legacy media.

One “fact-checker” measures truth by “Pinocchios.” There is a better way—hypothesis testing. Who better to know about hypothesis testing than a physician?

What if the facts about how Medicare is …

Medical misinformation: How to find clarity in a sea of contradictory advice

M. Bennet Broner, PhD

Conditions and Diseases

June 20, 2024

I read an array of medical literature, both technical and public. But despite my education, experience, and reasonable intelligence, I find myself bewildered by the overwhelming deluge of information and recommendations: frequently contradictory, at times inaccurate, and often meaningless, that presently inundates individuals. If I can be befuddled, what about the average person with a high school diploma or a bachelor’s degree and little medical experience?

Perhaps there is so much …

TV medical school: where doctors don’t need nurses and bullets heal themselves

Ann F. Beach, MD

Physician

May 16, 2024

Clearly, four years of college, four years of medical school, and three years of pediatric residency weren’t a complete medical education. There are so many things I didn’t know until I started watching action-packed TV shows, especially the ones with SWAT teams, detectives, and lots of blood.

My training was clearly deficient in neck jabbing. You know, when the bad guys sneak up on the good guy, jab him randomly in …

Princess and the pauper: Both deserve health privacy

Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA

Physician

March 28, 2024

The sad news of Princess Kate Middleton’s cancer diagnosis is a sound reminder of the sanctity of a person’s health status and their right to privacy.

I wasn’t sure which adjective I should use to describe Kate’s diagnosis – “sad,” “tragic,” or “devastating.” All are equally true, depending on whose perspective you consider. No doubt a cancer diagnosis is “sad” in the public’s eyes and even harsher in Kate’s. In my …

How Barbie exposes sexism in medicine

Victoria Johnson, MD, MPH

Physician

February 26, 2024

A scene in the movie Barbie is all too familiar to female physicians. Ken asks a female physician, “Can I talk to a doctor?” and she replies, “You are talking to a doctor.” He ignores her, then requests her assistance with various menial tasks (“Can you get me a coffee … I need a clicky pen”) before abruptly walking off in the direction of two short-haired, presumably male medical professionals, …

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How Barbie exposes sexism in medicine

Health misinformation’s deadly impact

Neha Gour

Health Policy

July 29, 2023

Turning into vegetarians can cure COVID-19, birth control pills cause abortions, or eating ginger is 10,000 times more effective than chemotherapy at curing cancer were some casually trending health misinformation in the past year. But what is health misinformation, and why is it a serious public health concern?

Health misinformation refers to health-related information that is false, unverified, and lacking scientific evidence. It poses a significant threat to public health as …

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Health misinformation’s deadly impact

Why are doctors sued and politicians aren’t?

Kellie Lease Stecher, MD

Physician

February 21, 2023

During the COVID pandemic health care workers needed to work tirelessly to correct the false information that politicians easily spread through the country. The President made claims that the virus was not real, that physicians were getting financial kickbacks from using COVID on death certificates, and that health care workers were benefiting from the pandemic. Physicians, nurses, and staff needed to talk to patients about COVID, and it really took …

Being an influencer has the potential to be destructive: a physician’s cautionary story

Brian Boxer Wachler, MD

Physician

November 3, 2022

An excerpt from Influenced: The Impact of Social Media on Our Perception.

During the COVID shutdowns, my medical practice—like that of most doctors—dramatically slowed down, giving me a lot of unaccustomed downtime. One day, my twin daughters approached me and urged, “Dad, there are some really good doctors on TikTok. You …

Health care communications during the pandemic era [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 27, 2022

“At the interpersonal level, people can help to normalize vaccination as the standard among their friends and family–not by lecturing or hectoring, simply by openly sharing that they themselves are vaccinated. Health care providers also have a role to play in de-sensationalizing the issue and making discussions about COVID vaccination a more routine …

The form of functional female bodies

Drea Burbank, MD

Physician

January 29, 2022

The U.S. Congress is considering regulating one of the most lucrative and powerful companies in the U.S. because teenage girls are attempting suicide over algorithmic images of female bodies.

As an MD-technologist, this is my jam. For over ten years, I’ve been obsessed with how technology makes us sick and how it can be used to make us healthy. So what can we learn from …

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The form of functional female bodies

To Aaron Rodgers, from a physician and Packers fan [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

November 25, 2021

“Mr. Rodgers, I’m glad you’re feeling well. This isn’t altogether unsurprising given your younger age and elite physical fitness (though cases in young unvaccinated people can and have become severe) and I hope you continue to feel well as you quarantine. The medical and scientific community works on data, lots and lots of …

More than a “bad day”: Asian-American medical trainees need your support

Yuemei (Amy) Zhang, MD

Physician

March 20, 2021

On March 16, 2021, 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long had a “bad day,” in the words of Captain Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department, and went to three different spas or massage parlors to kill eight people, including six Asian-American women, before being stopped. Had he not been stopped, he may have intended to continue on to Florida to murder more …

I have strong reservations regarding medication advertising to the public

M. Bennet Broner, PhD

Conditions and Diseases

February 21, 2021

Recently, there have been several TV advertisements on cancer treatments that may extend life. They report survival data that can mislead cancer victims to the extent of possible longevity. Additionally, they present a false picture of how life can be spent.

I have strong reservations regarding medication advertising to the public. Its purpose is to increase profits, not medical education. I know that businesses gamble significant amounts of money on drug …

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