Friday, July 31, 2009

The public spanking of Shona Holmes.


Only a week late to the festivities, the CBC finally buys a clue:

Anti-medicare ad an exaggeration: experts

Read the whole thing, of course, but here's the bestest part (emphasis towel-snappingly added):

After trying unsuccessfully to expedite the process, she was diagnosed and treated at the Mayo Clinic. Holmes said U.S. doctors considered the cyst a tumour, and that it would cause death if not removed immediately.

No, they didn't:

Dr. Naresh Patel, neurosurgeon, diagnosed Holmes as having a Rathke's cleft cyst (RCC). The rare, fluid-filled sac grows near the pituitary gland at the base of the brain and eventually can cause hormone and vision problems. Dr. Patel joined forces with Drs. David W. Dodick, neurologist, and Michael D. Whitaker, endocrinologist, to work on Holmes' case.

Their further tests revealed an increase in the size of her cyst over a short period of time as well as progressively worsening vision. "I was concerned that the pressure on Shona's nerves were causing her to become blind," says Dr.Patel. "We needed to remove the cyst to save her vision."

There is no evidence whatsoever that anyone at the Mayo Clinic considered that a tumour instead of a cyst, and the operation was to (allegedly) save her vision, not to save her life.

And the lying continues, and the CBC gets spun. Again.

4 comments:

Mike said...

The CBC stumbled at the gate in today's story: "... may be exaggerating the severity of her condition, say medical experts."

May be exaggerating? NO. Is exaggerating. That's what medical experts in the story say. Why the weak lede? Just CBC bullshit "even-handedness" or "objectivity", I guess.

CC said...

Stimpy:

It's the worthless "he said, she said" model of journalism these days. It would have been trivial for the CBC to have countered Holmes' claims with simple facts straight from the Mayo Clinic. But that would have required actual research. And that ain't gonna happen. It's not journalism, it's stenography.

That guy said...

It would have been trivial for the CBC to have countered Holmes' claims with simple facts straight from the Mayo Clinic.

But that could have meant using the internet! It would almost have been the same as ... as ... blogging!!!

*faints*

Ti-Guy said...

Well, Holmes did claim on As It Happens that "a doctor" told her she would be dead in six months. Of course, the host could have asked "What was the name of the doctor" and have Holmes respond in any way she saw fit, but nice Canadian journalists don't ask those kinds of questions. That's impertinent.