153: Why so much of what we “know” about medicine is wrong (Vinay Prasad)

February 21, 2016

We like to think of doctors as experts, whose recommendations are backed up by solid evidence. So why does it keep happening that a widely used medical intervention — like estrogen replacement therapy, or heart stents — turns out to be useless, or even harmful? This episode features Dr. Vinay Prasad, author of “Ending Medical Reversal: Improving Outcomes, Saving Lives,” who talks with Julia about why medical research is so often fatally flawed, and what we can do about it.

Transcript (PDF)