In New York magazine, STEVE HALL lays out the good, bad, and the ugly of cancer-drug economics . Warning: it is mostly bad and ugly. > The pharmacist e-mailed the numbers, and SALTZ sta...
https://freakonomics.com/2013/10/the-unsustainable-economics-of-cancer-drugs/
In our podcast “100 Ways to Fight Obesity ," STEVE LEVITT and DAVID LAIBSON discuss the possibility of using tapeworms to fight weight gain. (Seriously.) That prompted a reader named SCOTT GENE...
https://freakonomics.com/2013/05/beer-for-babies-and-the-tapeworm-diet/
That is the title of an essay by SUSHRUT JANGI , in the New England Journal of Medicine: > Suddenly, there was a loud, sickening blast. My ears were ringing, > and then — a ...
https://freakonomics.com/2013/04/under-the-medical-tent-at-the-boston-marathon/
1. First-year medical residents made more mistakes when they were required to work fewer hours. 2. Automated education: EdX offers classes online , marks essays and tests. 3. Telemedicine has ...
From a reader we'll call O.X.H.: > I listened to your podcast on letting a coin decide your future > > - and wanted to make my own, small contribution to your piece. ...
https://freakonomics.com/2013/02/what-if-your-future-had-been-decided-by-someone-elses-coin-toss/
An New England Journal of Medicine article looks at the probability of a bystander performing CPR based on neighborhood characteristics including income and race: > Among 14,225 patients w...
An interesting new paper (abstract ; PDF ) by the Emory economist ANDREW M. FRANCIS explores penicillin's role in shaping modern sexuality: > It was not until 1943, amid world war, ...
https://freakonomics.com/2012/10/penicillin-as-an-aphrodisiac/
Last year, we put out a podcast called "The Power of Poop ," which looked at the use of fecal transplants (a.k.a. "transpoosions") to treat everything from multiple sclerosis to Parkinson's disea...
https://freakonomics.com/2012/10/do-the-bacteria-in-your-gut-also-influence-your-mind/
A New England Journal of Medicine article explores the history of the Olympic Games as an object of "medical scrutiny," with some interesting highlights: > Physicians have been interested�...
https://freakonomics.com/2012/07/the-olympics-and-the-doctors/
Like a lot of products, pharmaceuticals get knocked off. And when that happens to a drug that’s protected by a patent, the next event is unsurprising: a lawsuit brought by the patent holder. Bu...
https://freakonomics.com/2012/07/why-do-patent-holders-sometimes-pay-patent-copiers/
JARED FORAN, an orthopedic surgeon in Denver, is a co-author of a new study called "Patient Perception of Physician Reimbursement in Elective Total Hip and Knee Arthroplasty" (PDF here ). The ...
https://freakonomics.com/2012/06/what-surgeons-get-paid-and-what-patients-think-surgeons-get-paid/
We recently solicited your questions for David Agus, the oncologist author of The End of Illness . Now he's back with answers, including: the numbers on taking aspirin, how to get the most fro...
https://freakonomics.com/2012/03/end-of-illness-author-david-agus-answers-your-questions/
Here's an obvious but sobering thought: every one of us will someday get sick and die. And here's a happier thought: with ever-advancing medical technology and research, we can now avoid many kin...
https://freakonomics.com/2012/03/bring-your-questions-for-end-of-illness-author-david-agus/
What do you do when the medical experts disagree? Should you have that PSA screening, or mammogram? Should you really be taking statins -- and what about vitamins? On these and many other medical...
At Freakonomics, we're all about finding cheap, easy solutions to life's big problems. And judging by the results of a new study published in The Lancet, a rather large one just came down the pi...
https://freakonomics.com/2011/10/aspirin-and-cancer-a-seriously-cost-effective-measure/
What exactly happens when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issues one of those ominous Public Health Advisories (PHAs) about a pharmaceutical product? A new paper by RENA M. CONTI , HAIDEN ...
One of the many debates over the new health care law is whether increased access to health insurance really improves the public's overall health and financial security. Even though there are hund...
In this week's Freakonomics Radio podcast, "The Power of Poop" (subscribe to iTunes here), we meet Alex Khoruts, an immunologist and gastroenterologist at the University of Minnesota whose resear...
https://freakonomics.com/2011/03/another-batch-of-poop-loving-doctors/
A reader named Ed Woodcock writes to tell us of ...: " conversation I had with a WHO (World Health Org.) official I bumped into while touring the Taj Mahal for the first time about 5 or 6 years a...
https://freakonomics.com/2011/03/the-unintended-consequences-of-polio-eradication-in-india/
Articles on the health-care industry are a fertile source of large numbers and, sometimes, large errors. It is estimated that nationally 300,000 women a year may be getting unnecessary surgery at...
https://freakonomics.com/2011/03/the-real-cost-of-unnecessary-breast-biopsies/