The story highlighted a study on the effectiveness of a new heart defibrillator. An Amarillo cardiologist and some of his patients were part of the study.
The piece is entirely praiseful of the new device and mostly repeats the news release with supplements of two local patients involved in the study.
What the story doesn’t tell you is that device costs $30,000 – a pretty little penny.
It also doesn’t state the actual number of people whose lives were saved or didn’t need live-saving interventions because of the device.
The press release only provides a “29 percent reduction in death or heart failure interventions when compared to traditional implantable cardioverter defibrillators.”
It is possible that just a relative handful of lives could be saved with the new defibrillator rather than an older model defibrillator. The manufacturer, Boston Scientific, declined to release such information to me.
The story doesn’t state any possible alternative treatments or harms from the new device.
The study is also very preliminary and not yet published in a peer-review journal.
Gary Schwitzer, publisher of HealthNewsReview.com, gives the following caution when reporting on such topics:
Consumers should know that medical devices and procedures don't undergo the same type of scrutiny for safety and effectiveness as that used for prescription drugs. As a result, may not be given much information on possible benefits and harms of new devices and procedures.
Schwitzer also provides the general guideline that bigger medical research is not always better and newer toys and drugs are not always better for consumers.
Cheerleading for such new medical technology without demanding certain questions be answered for consumers as the recent story did is one reason why health-care costs in this country are out of control.
Needless to say, I declined to write a story on this when I was sent the press release last week.
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