Editor’s Corner
These Are a Few of My Least Favorite
Things…
A
LTHOUGH NOT VALIDATED by CLIA-certified genomics testing,
I believe that I am certifiably of Scottish descent and, therein,
probably have the genome of a marauding Viking crossed with
some scrofulous ancient Highland crone. Thus, despite years of
mellowing in gentle Canada and sun-accelerated aging in the
Arizona desert, I remain congenitally disposed to the autonomic
impulse to be irritated by almost anything.
This month, I’m using this Editor’s Corner to guide you
through the assaults on logic that populate the daily life of a
hematologist. Individually, they are trivialities, but cumulatively,
they erode even the most steadfast of resolves. So, here are a few
of my least favorite things (circa March 2015).
A recent addition to my naughty list are the apparently
well-educated and well-fed league of vaccine-deniers and
gluten-intolerance–enthusiasts. They must travel in circles where
inventing medical conspiracy theories is worn as a badge of honor.
On a related note, I also point a middle finger at the morally dubious peddlers of the vitamins, natural supplements, and
homeopathic products flooding the water treatment plants of
California. Last month alone, I endured six phone calls on topics
of medical misinformation, such as measles vaccination after
transplant, the more chronic need for a stock answer on the role
of turmeric in battling lymphoma, and why eating less sugar will
not actually halt myeloma in its tracks.
Sadly, my Luddite viewpoint is quixotic; when our new cancer center proudly opens later this year, our integrative medicine
program will occupy a large amount of that sunlight-flooded,
ground-floor, easy-access, LEED-certified prime real estate. Our
clinical trials staff will no doubt find the dark cubicles in the local
concrete block warehouse much more to their taste.
Let’s delve further into th B