Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health

From Johns Hopkins medical expert Dr. Marty Makary, the New York Times-bestselling author of The Price We Pay-an eye-opening look at the medical groupthink that has led to public harm, and what you need to know about your health.

More Americans have peanut allergies today than at any point in history. Why? In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a strict recommendation that parents avoid giving their children peanut products until they're three years old. Getting the science perfectly backward, triggering intolerance with lack of early exposure, the US now leads the world in peanut allergies-and this misinformation is still rearing its head today.

How could the experts have gotten it so wrong? Dr. Marty Makary asks, Could it be that many modern-day health crises have been caused by the hubris of the medical establishment? Experts said for decades that opioids were not addictive, igniting the opioid crisis. They refused menopausal women hormone replacement therapy, causing unnecessary suffering. They demonized natural fat in foods, driving Americans to processed carbohydrates as obesity rates soared. They told citizens that there are no downsides to antibiotics and prescribed them liberally, causing a drug-resistant bacteria crisis.

When modern medicine issues recommendations based on good scientific studies, it shines. Conversely, when modern medicine is interpreted through the harsh lens of opinion and edict, it can mold beliefs that harm patients and stunt research for decades. In Blind Spots, Dr. Makary explores the latest research on critical topics ranging from the microbiome to childbirth to nutrition and longevity and more, revealing the biggest blind spots of modern medicine and tackling the most urgent yet unsung issues in our $4.5 trillion health care ecosystem. The path to medical mishaps can be absurd, entertaining, and jaw-dropping-but the truth is essential to our health.

Author: Marty Makary
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 09/17/2024
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 8.70h x 6.00w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781639735310


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 07/29/2024
Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2024

About the Author
Dr. Marty Makary is a Johns Hopkins medical expert and member of the National Academy of Medicine. The author of two New York Times-bestselling books, Unaccountable and The Price We Pay, he's been interviewed over 1,000 times on TV, published more than 250 scientific research articles, and served in leadership at the W.H.O. He has written for the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and the New York Times, and is the recipient of the Business Book of the Year Award and the Library Journal Book of the Year. Named one of America's Most Influential People in Health Care by Health Leaders Magazine, Dr. Makary lives in Baltimore, Maryland