5.Heartburn Drugs Have Deadly Side Effects
5.胃灼燒藥物有致命的副作用
One of the main problems with medications is that, while they usually do a decent job of treating what they're supposed to treat, they often cause horrible side effects. And even though it's the doctor's job to tell people about those side effects, sometimes that just doesn't happen. For example, proton pump inhibitors, a type of heartburn drug marketed under the brand names Nexium and Prilosec, have been linked to bone decay, birth defects, and an inability to absorb vitamin B12, which can lead to permanent neurological damage.
關(guān)于藥物的一個主要問題是，在它們有效地治療它們所針對的病癥時，往往尾隨而至的是藥物可怕的副作用。即使告知那些藥物的副作用是醫(yī)生的職責(zé)所在，但有時他們也會避而不談。例如，質(zhì)子泵抑制劑（proton pump inhibitors），一種治療胃灼燒的藥劑，在市場上以耐信（Nexium）和洛賽克（Prilosec）的品牌名出售，這種藥物也許會造成骨衰老和先天畸形，并且它還會使人體喪失吸收維生素B12的能力，從而導(dǎo)致永久性神經(jīng)受損。
Despite that, Nexium was the single most prescribed drug in 2012, and in many cases it doesn't even work. It's usually prescribed to treat Barrett's esophagus, which is when excess stomach acid burns the lining of the esophagus, but the pills don't do a thing for the condition. Pediatricians have even started prescribing these meds to infants, even though it's been proven that doing so can actually cause permanent intestinal disorders.
此外，2012年醫(yī)生開得最多的一種處方藥就是耐信，并且多數(shù)情況下，它甚至沒有一點效用。醫(yī)生所開處方上的阿司匹林藥物通常是用以治療胃酸過多而灼燒食道所引起的巴雷特食管癥（Barrett's esophagus），但實際上這些藥片卻對此沒有絲毫效用。兒科醫(yī)師甚至在給嬰幼兒開的藥方中也開始使用此種藥物，盡管已有研究證明，這樣做實際上會導(dǎo)致永久性的腸道功能紊亂。
4."Safe" X-Rays Still Cause Cancer
4."安全的"X射線也會引發(fā)癌癥
It's a well-known fact that gamma radiation and X-rays carry the risk of kickstarting cancer. Now, we're constantly exposed to radiation just by being alive, so there's a general guideline for "safe exposure" to X-rays, which the medical profession sticks to when they look for broken bones or give you a mammogram. Radiation is measured in units called sieverts, and every year you're exposed to about 2.4 millisieverts, just from general background radiation; by contrast, a mammogram only gives you about 0.7 millisieverts.
眾所周知，伽馬射線（gamma radiation）和 X射線（X-rays）有致癌風(fēng)險。而現(xiàn)在的我們?yōu)榱嘶钕聛恚鸵３⒆约罕┞队谳椛渲拢?因此醫(yī)生為你檢查斷裂的骨頭或是給你做乳房X光攝影檢查（mammogram）的時候，就會大體為你說明一下關(guān)于X射線"安全曝光"的原理。輻射是以西弗茨（sieverts）的單位來衡量的，你每年光是受到的背景輻射就約有2.4毫西弗；與之相比，一次乳房X光攝影檢查僅僅只會給你帶來0.7毫西弗的輻射。
The difference, though, is that medical X-rays pop that radiation into you in the space of minutes, whereas it takes a whole year to absorb your typical background radiation. And it's a huge difference, even with low-radiation "safe" X-rays. In the UK, diagnostic X-rays cause about 700 cases of cancer each year. And it could be even worse than that—some researchers claim that the majority of cancer cases were either caused or aggravated by medical X-rays. And to top it all off, women who get X-rays when pregnant have been found more likely to give birth to children with cancer. And a CT scan is the go-to diagnostic tool for young children, which, you guessed it, is just another type of X-ray.
然而，兩者之間的區(qū)別在于，醫(yī)用X射線在幾分鐘的時間內(nèi)就將輻射注入你的體內(nèi)，而背景輻射卻需要你花上整整一年的時間來吸收。這是一個巨大的差別，甚至連低輻射的"安全"X射線也是如此。在英國，醫(yī)用診斷X射線每年會導(dǎo)致約700起癌癥病例。更糟糕的是——一些研究者聲稱多數(shù)癌癥病例都是由醫(yī)用X射線所導(dǎo)致的，或者說醫(yī)用X射線加重了癌癥患者的病情。更有甚者，女性如果在懷孕期間進行x光檢查，那么她極有可能生下一個患有癌癥的小孩。并且作為小孩首選診斷工具的CT掃描（電腦斷層掃描），正如你所猜想的那樣，也不過是X射線的另一種樣式。
3.Doctors Get Paid When You Buy Certain Drugs
3.醫(yī)生會從某種藥物的售賣中獲得報酬
Conspiracy theorists aren't shy about proclaiming the evils of Big Pharma. But conspiracy theory is one thing, and documented proof is a whole different beast. When the Harvard Law School took a closer look, they realized that they didn't have to dig very deep at all to discover that doctors are paid handsomely to prescribe certain drugs, even when those drugs turn out to be harmful.
陰謀論者不怯于公開大型制藥公司的惡行。但陰謀論是一回事，而文獻證據(jù)則完全是另一回事。哈佛大學(xué)法學(xué)院對此進行更為細致的觀察后意識到一個問題，人們只要稍稍留心一下就會發(fā)現(xiàn)，醫(yī)生能夠從某一種特定的處方藥中得到可觀的報酬，甚至有時他們開出的那些處方藥對人體有害。
One of the most publicized recent cases was Dr. Joseph L. Biederman, who began diagnosing two-year-old toddlers with bipolar disorder and prescribing strong antipsychotics that were never approved by the FDA for children under 10. The manufacturer of the antipsychotics paid him $1.6 million. Then there's Dr. Alan F. Schatzberg, who began prescribing an abortion drug to treat depression—he owned $4.8 million of stock in the company that produced the drug. And then you have Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff, who received $500,000 to advertise as safe a drug that can cause seizures and paralysis The fact is, doctors are allowed to prescribe any drug for any illness, no matter what the drug was originally intended to treat. We're not making a blanket statement saying all doctors take money to prescribe questionable treatments—but how do you know which ones do?
最近就有這樣的一起案例，約瑟夫醫(yī)生（Dr. Joseph L. Biederman）為一位患有躁郁癥的兩歲幼童開出藥性強烈的精神抑制藥（antipsychotics），食物及藥品管理局（FDA）規(guī)定這種藥物不可用于10歲以下孩童。這種精神抑制藥的制造商給了他160萬美元的報酬。另外一個例子就是，艾倫醫(yī)生（（Dr. Alan F. Schatzberg））用墮胎藥治療抑郁癥——他在生產(chǎn)此藥的公司中占有480萬美元的股份。再就是查爾斯醫(yī)生（Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff）為一種會導(dǎo)致癲癇和癱瘓的藥物做廣告，宣稱這種藥物是安全的，這樣他就能獲得50萬美元的報酬。 事實上，醫(yī)生是被允許為任何疾病開出任何藥物的，不論他開出的藥物本來是針對何種病情。我們不能以偏概全地說所有的醫(yī)生都會為了得到報酬而開出問題藥方——但你又怎么知道有哪些醫(yī)生會這樣做呢？
2.Pandemic Scares Are Over-Hyped
2.被過度夸大的流感恐慌
Who can forget the swine flu pandemic in 2009 and 2010? When the World Health Organization called for a state of global emergency, the world went haywire. Lines for the vaccine stretched for blocks, and doctors everywhere told people to seek immediate treatment.
誰能夠忘記2009年和2010年的甲型H1N1流感？當(dāng)世界健康組織宣布全球流感處于緊急狀態(tài)時，整個世界開始陷入一片混亂。等候接種疫苗的長隊延伸過好幾個街區(qū)，并且每個地方的醫(yī)生都勸說人們及時就醫(yī)。
Over the course of about 10 months, pharmaceutical companies raked in £6.5 billion (about $10.5 billion in 2010) from vaccine sales. Doctors tied to the vaccine's manufacturers were 8.4 times more likely to recommend the vaccine to their patients. And not only recommend—they were more likely to publicly hype the dangers of the flu in the media, which immeasurably contributed to the state of panic. And strangely, doctors who were being paid by pharmaceutical companies were also more likely to volunteer information to the press. That doesn't seem like much of a difference, but it's these quoted experts that we tend to believe in a news article. In the end, about 17,000 people died from swine flu, as opposed to the 46,000 that die every year from the normal flu. Surely the low numbers were due to the mass vaccinations—rather than, say, the fact that the disease was just a common mutation artificially inflated to terror-inducing proportions.
在將近10個月的時間里，制藥公司就輕易地從疫苗售賣中撈到了65億美元（相當(dāng)于2010年的105億美元）。與疫苗制造商沆瀣一氣的醫(yī)生建議病人接種疫苗的可能性比一般醫(yī)生要多8.4倍。并且不僅僅只是建議——他們甚至更有可能在媒體上公然地夸大流感的危險性，這在極大程度上造成了民眾的恐慌。并且奇怪的是，那些被制藥公司給予報酬的醫(yī)生更有可能主動提供信息給報社。那似乎并沒多大區(qū)別，但我們總是傾向于相信報紙上這些援引專家的言論。結(jié)果有將近17000人死于H1N1流感，而死于普通流感的人卻有46000人。 當(dāng)然，這得歸功于大規(guī)模的疫苗接種——而不是，比如說，這次流感本身就只是一次普通的基因突變，只不過被人為地夸大，使之膨脹到令人恐慌的地步。
1.Registered Sex Offenders And Violent Criminals
1.登記在冊的性侵犯者和暴力犯罪分子
Your doctor doesn't have to disclose his criminal history, and usually that wouldn't be considered a problem. Between the strict admission policies of most medical schools and the vague notion that hospitals probably screen their employees, who would even think to ask? Well, maybe you should.
醫(yī)生沒必要向你公開他的犯罪歷史，并且通常這也不會被視為什么大問題。多數(shù)醫(yī)科學(xué)校都有嚴(yán)格的招生政策，并且我們也模糊地意識到醫(yī)院或許會對他的職工進行一番篩選，因此有誰還會想到問一下醫(yī)生的犯罪歷史呢？其實，或許你應(yīng)該問一下的。
In November 2013, the UK's General Medical Council, or GMC, released a database with the criminal histories of physicians in the United Kingdom. It turned out that almost 800 practicing doctors held criminal records, including 31 who were arrested for assault and 330 arrested for drunk driving. The rest of them? Crimes range from theft to drug trafficking, and they're under zero legal obligation to let their patients know about it. And it's not exactly rare. There's the rapist surgeon working in Miami, and the New York doctor who was caught trying to meet a young boy for sex, and a Scottish physician who had reams of child pornography stored on his computer. Who's really taking care of you?
2013年11月，英國的醫(yī)學(xué)總會(GMC)公布了英國醫(yī)生犯罪歷史的數(shù)據(jù)庫。資料顯示，差不多有800名在職醫(yī)生持有犯罪記錄，其中有31人曾因攻擊他人而遭逮捕，330人因酒駕而被監(jiān)禁。剩下的人呢？從偷竊到販毒可謂無所不有，而且這些醫(yī)生也沒有法律義務(wù)向他們的病人逐一交代這些。這樣的事例并不罕見。在邁阿密（Miami）就有一個外科醫(yī)生是強奸犯，一名紐約醫(yī)生因企圖與一個小男孩發(fā)生性關(guān)系而遭逮捕，蘇格蘭的一位內(nèi)科醫(yī)師在他的電腦里儲存了大量的兒童色情作品。誰在真正地愛護你呢？
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