Dr Crippen has managed to get the BBC to change a headline, merely by criticizing it in his blog. He then got an apology from the writer of the article in question, which was about how MRI has a high false positive rate. This, of course, is not news. It is why MRI is not yet ready for prime time breast cancer screening. But like any good news outlet, the BBC had managed to make this piece of information sound utterly frightening, with the headline “Mri scans commonly wrong”.
This is not the first time the BBC has responded to Dr Crippin’s criticism by changing a story.
I find this entire episode amazingly encouraging. Our voice can matter, folks. Keep writing, keep taking on the powers that harm, and we will be heard.
Right on!
For patients without medical training the medical blogs are an incredible education. And has definitely given me a new perspective (read skepticism) on articles about medicine in newspapers, magazines, etc.