A few sound methods can protect you from rising tide of published medical bunk -

Medical hype flourishes in the media-saturated modern world, with the internet testing consumer gullibility 24/7. But for a dozen years, an expert collective, based at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, has battled the rising tide of health related bunk with the online watchdog site healthnewsreview.org.

At a time, though, when Americans are inundated by a “tsunami of not ready for prime time” health news, based on a growing body of problematic medical-science research and aggressive PR tactics by

big medical institutions, fiscal support for healthnewsreview.org is fading. The site soon will cease daily publication of new content, notably its debunking of bad studies and dubious reports about them.

The careful, insightful work by the site and its contributors would be well served if patients stepped up to become more skeptical consumers. This isn’t hard. It can make a difference, improving not only medicine but also the care that we and our loved ones get.