What Do You Believe?

  What people believe is astounding! If you ever watch the man on the street interviews done by Jay Leno on NBC’s Tonight Show, you can’t help but wonder where he finds people with such limited knowledge. A recent publication is even more telling. In it, the questioners note that even today only 10% of adults in the United States know what radiation is, only 30% know that DNA is in the nucleus of each cell and is the basis of heredity, and, amazingly, 20% still think the sun revolves around the Earth.¹ In science and medicine we are confronted with new ideas and information each day. How much of it do you believe? We spend large amounts of time talking about “evidence” in medicine and science, but how does science and medicine stack up with the truth?   History is full of examples of false science. One of the most interesting examples of which I personally know involved the treatment of stomach ulcers in the 1950s. This was the time when there were no medications to reduce stomach acid. Patients were told to drink milk to calm the acid in the stomach. It was confirmed later that milk actually stimulates acid production in the stomach—so much for science in the treatment of ulcers. The next treatment suggestion—freezing the stomach—should have made everyone think twice.² Yes, tubes were passed into the stomach and liquid nitrogen was circulated through the tubing until the lining of the stomach was frozen solid! The theory was that the cold would prevent the secretion of acid from the glands of the stomach wall. Since I am sure most of you have never heard of the procedure, you can guess how successful it was proven to be. However, at the time numerous scientific publications extolled the virtues and successes of treating peptic ulcers in this manner. Even the Nobel Prize Committee has been led down the wrong path. There are reports of scientific discoveries that received the Nobel Prize, which were later proved ineffective.^3,4 What happened? Why did so many seemingly smart people believe these things? It may be that they were victims of the “congeniality of conclusion.” This is when one reaches a conclusion he likes or anticipates rather than the one shown by evidence.¹   As we spend our professional careers looking at new ideas and treatments, we must be very careful not to believe what we want to be true, but what the evidence affirms to be true. As the Italian writer Giordano Bruno wrote in 1584, “There is a difference between having a mind that is open to new ideas and one that is simply vacant.” None of us would admit to having a vacancy between our ears, but many times we act like it when we hear new and/or unusual thoughts and ideas. Thinking is still an excellent pastime and will help us discern good information from bogus information. There is still a place for common sense and applied reason.   With everyone getting back into the routines after summer breaks and heading to the fall wound care meetings, new information and ideas will be poured on everyone. At the end of the day, what do you believe? Think about it!

References

1. Grant J. Bogus Science: Or, Some People Really Believe These Things. Wisley, Surrey, England: AAPPL Artists and Photographers Press, Ltd., Church Farm House; 2009:15,19. 2. Wangensteen OH, Peter ET, Nicoloff DM, Walder AI, Sosin H, Bernstein EF. Achieving “physiological gastrectomy” by gastric freezing. A preliminary report of an experimental and clinical study. JAMA. 1962;180(6):439–444. 3. Noble Prize controversies. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize_controversies. Accessed: August 28, 2010. 4. English J. Odd Facts About Nobel Prize Winners. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/10/06/mf.nobel.odd.facts/index.html. Accessed August 28, 2010.