DIC is in the same category, but we do not waste the time nor money, nor mutilate a corpse to have pathology figure out the exact pathology of the cause of DIC in most cases. The same with SIDS.
I agree that pharm companies go a little overboard in their advertizing of certain medications, but the way you comments are worded made it look like the whole medical profession is involved and nothing could be further from the truth.
There are actually several physician and medical student groups that put great effort into reducing the influence of pharm companies. It is very difficult to come up with accurate dx and treatment plans when patients say all the magic words that leads to the treatment they researched on webmd or saw on TV.
Some people are just not good parents, for a variety of reasons. Their inability sometimes leads to the death of their child. Something they have to live with for the rest of their lives. It serves nobody to determine the exact nature of the lethal insult and unequivically drive home the point it was the parents' fault. Particularly in parents that really were trying their best. (I know not all of them do) It also helps deflect overly zealous law enforcement and procecutors from making a name for themselves mercilessly pursuing criminal complaints and convictions on populations who are likely to confess guilt because they feel it was their "fault" or to not offer up a proper defense to demonstrate that ignorance, not malice led to the fatal event(s). That serves nobody.
In my opinion, treatments shouldn't be marketed to the public at all. But I have not yet discovered the balance between letting people know that there are treatments that can legitimately improve the quality of life and direct marketing.
Fad has a rather negative connotation to it, if such a commercial saved somebody's marriage and kept a family together would it be less distasteful? Sex is a part of a healthy life and healthy relationships.
From years of experience both in and outside of FDs, I have clearly stated my position that globally, fire service based EMS is a disservice. I recognize that there are areas where it is done well, but as stated in my original post on this subject, I have given considerably of my time and effort to demonstrate the importance of EMS only to see it become a set of skills that laborers need to be certified n in order to take a fire test to get on a department where the only purpose EMS serves is to pad the call volume and justify the budget.
I have seen your blog prior to the post I quoted, I am sure many in the fire service rightly look up to you, but when you post oversimplified comments like this it really defeats the efforts of people (including yourself) who are trying to make changes.
There is probably a host of people who didn't read or don't agree with EMS 2.0 who see comments like this and think of all the street cred you have and take the unqualified attitude that most of this vague medical crap is worthless to work with them.
As I have admitted, I have a predisposition to seriously doubt the quality of EMS provided by the fire service in the US. Perhaps it is a character fault of mine. But as a very wise southern friend of mine likes to say: if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck. It's a duck.
The picture of the fireman with the highly simplified comment looks the same to me as all the other fire service people with comments like: "We don't need all that useless medical education, I don't want to be a doctor, just tell me what to do!"
