To provide general feedback about the Media Doctor website, please leave your comments below. If you wish to provide feedback relating to a specific article, please use the comments section located on that article's page.

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(05 Apr 2007) morganusvitus writes,

"The site looks great ! Thanks for all your help ( past, present and future !)"

(09 Feb 2007) A reader from Monash University writes,

"I seek your permission to use the disease mongering YouTube sampler for teaching purposes.

I have responsibility for information literacy at Monash and I find that using material that illustrates the need for questioning information is a good way to open discussions with staff and students. I recommend Media Doctor to academic staff in the health sciences when we discuss information literacy education.

The BMJ 'Googling for a diagnosis' (accompanied by The Age's archaic illustration of doctor looking over nurse's shoulder) and the presentation 'How to Survive a Heart Attack when Alone" (linked from the Bangaldesh Development Gateway Foundation's Health section, amongst other places) are two examples of entertaining openers I have used to introduce the concept of information literacy. The YouTube video/BMJ article would also be a lovely opener for the clinical staff for whom I am preparing an introductory session.

Best wishes,

Vivienne Bernath"
(this comment has been moderated)

Media Doctor response,

"You are most welcome - and the same invitation is extended to anyone else who wishes to use the video for educational purposes.

David Henry"

(18 Oct 2006) Paul writes,

"Please rate www.asthmascore.com.au

Cheers"

Media Doctor response,

"Paul - thanks for writing. The Web site you refer to is not something that fits our rating criteria because it takes the form of health advice - we look at medical news stories. Apologies, but we cannot get into the business of giving health advice."

(27 Jun 2006) Trevor Andrews from retired writes,

"Before retiring, having had recent involvement as a Director and shareholder with a company that manufactured and marketed TENS machines, It was often frustrating that the TGA's stringent rules on advertising would dilute the features and benefits of the products being marketed.
Perhaps there is a role for the TGA in co-operating with you in your endeavour to limit the harm PR "spin" gives to medial"beakthorughs" with similar rules to their advertising rules being applied to press releases et al.
Keep up the good work.

Trevor Andrews"

(20 Jun 2006) Stan Goldstein from SGRB Solutions writes,

"I think this site really does have a lot of potential.

I was wondering though about the process of getting comments approved and placed on line. BMJ for instance ususally takes 1-2 days. I attempted to provide a couple of my own to see what the process was and whether there would be an interative and interactive discussion of the issues, but alas, nothing has appeared.

I think that without the feedback loop completed by incorporating relevant comments, the site becomes far less relevant.

Could you advise what are the processes for infcorporating the commenton your reviews which the site seems to be designed for?"

Media Doctor response,

"Stan - many thanks for writing. We do try to process comments quickly. Your comments related to specific articles covered by Media doctor and appear in the Forum section and in the comments section below the relevant articles. The Feedback section is where we put general comments about the site. Unfortunately it has been bombarded with spam recently and we are trying to find a way of fixing that."

(17 May 2006) Thompson from Mrks writes,

"Hello. Liked your site very much. Great design and content!"

(05 Apr 2006) Tony writes,

""I believe doctor holts treatment should be used. If only one% is cured, it is a life saved. life is so important. If I had known about doctor holt when both my mum and dad were told there was nothing more could be done, I am sure they would have been alive today.The government rule the country, but whe gives them the right to say who should live and who should die.""

(13 Mar 2006) Swallow from Napa Valley Allsoft, Inc. writes,

"Very interesting and beautiful site. It is a lot of helpful information. Thanks!"

(10 Mar 2006) Stake from Marketplace Design writes,

"A great site where one can enjoy the thought of a great mind long departed. Cheers for the good work!"

(10 Mar 2006) Wildmon from Wildmon fun Co writes,

"Greetings to all! Excuse for this message, but at you excellent design of a site! Very much it was pleasant to me, I shall come here very often!"

(10 Mar 2006) Broncos from Slots 777 Casino writes,

"What is the most important information I should know about Cymbalta?"

Media Doctor response,

"We generally don't give specific health advice; in addition this is a drug that is not available in Australia. We suggest that you search Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com/) using the proper name for the drug - duloxetine"

(06 Mar 2006) Janelle Miles from AAP writes,

"Hi again. Just in relation to your comments on the two stories regarding a new treatment for blue bottle stings, they were actually two versions of the same AAP story. The on-line Australian story was the full AAP copy while the Sydney Morning Herald story was a cut down version, obviously to fit a space in the paper. That's why the quotes are the same. They weren't taken from a media release. They were part of an interview I did with the researcher. Cheers."

Media Doctor response,

"Thanks for clarifying this. We have amended the comment and the scores for this article."

(05 Mar 2006) Dr G Coombes from Urologist writes,

"Congratulations on this site. So many patients arrive with clippings of poorly reported "breakthroughs" , it is certainly time for this fightback to critically assess the media's role. Tragically, entrepreneurial medical colleagues are really behind the reporters' stories, pushing their own barrow.
Keep up the good work, I shall be recommending your site to my patients in their online searches."

(01 Mar 2006) Philip Clarke writes,

"Please consider reviewing this article
- Thanks in advanced
Philip

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200603/s1581528.htm

Last Update: Wednesday, March 1, 2006. 4:32pm (AEDT)

Genetic predisposition: One-fifth of the population is prone to depression.

Gene linked to depression risk
By Alex Wilde for ABC Science Online

Australian researchers say more than a fifth of the population has a genetic predisposition to major depression triggered by a string of stressful life events.

These events include the loss of a parent or other significant relative, a relationship br....."

Media Doctor response,

"We are happy to oblige. We will send it to our raters. One comment though... our rating instruments are designed for news stories that make therapeutic claims. For instance if a laboratory was offering the detection of the genotype described in the article to predict individuals who were at risk of depression, in the expectation that this would improve their future health the instrument would work. In this instance it may not 'fit' very well but we'll give it a shot."

(24 Feb 2006) Brett from Medical Practitioner writes,

"Addendum:

Perhaps "readability" could be added - not as part of the formal rating - as it is (to some degree) subjective - but as an addition - no doubt there are scales that would be useful.

I ask this as sometimes the "best" articles are rather too opaque for me!"

Media Doctor response,

"We have considered some separate measure of the quality of the writing and so far have not had the confidence to do this. We are not trying to tell journalists how to write stories; we know that there are many aspects of journalism that are beyond our knowledge and we are happy to keep it that way. All we are saying is that for stories that make therapeutic claims we believe that certain factors should be covered in the story. How the story is written is another matter."

(24 Feb 2006) Brett from Medical Practitioner writes,

"Thank you for providing an excellent service.

I read the comments provided below with great interest and believe one indication of a good service is the fact that you receive criticisms such as those provided (eg. David Margin). I note the absence of any appreciation of your goals in Mr Margin's criticisms, especially his disparagement of "academics" (no wonder they feel marginalised and leave for overseas' posts) and appeal to "contact[] me to check...facts" (does every consumer have this opportunity - please provide number!)? Such criticisms are however a healthy indication of the value of your work.

One suggestion is that perhaps you selectively locate the better articles on an issue rather than simply the first published (see Janelle Miles interesting comments). I use this site to direct myself to quality articles both for personal interest and to forward to colleagues and patients as good journalists have the gift of being able to translate complex medical discoveries into commonly understood language.

Finally, having some sort of general directory (eg: cancer, influenza, whatever) might also be helpful to provide articles of interest.

Thank you again."

Media Doctor response,

"Brett - thanks for the comments. We have considered a variety of presentation formats including 'best' at the top rather than most recent. It makes the site quite hard to maintain unfortunately and this is a shoe-string operation, so we try to keep maintenance to a minimum by automating as much as we can. But we are reviewing these processes soon and will take these comments into account."

(21 Jan 2006) Robert Howes from Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation, Inc. writes,

"Dear Media Doctor Team,

Thank you for your critical analysis of medical journalism.

The worldwide media reporting of the inflammatory skin disease 'Hidradenitis Suppurativa' is problematic and confusing to physicians and patients alike. Poorly researched media reports of this disease without fact-checking and without assessing evidence has the potential to harm the self-image of patients with this debilitating disease.

Best Regards,

Robert Howes
Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation, Inc.
http://hs-foundation.org"

(31 Dec 2005) Adam from USA writes,

"I just wanted to commend what you are doing in with this website. I live in the USA, where I believe the media has taken a turn for the worst. It is a race to who will get the scoop, without ethics and or facts for that matter. We have planes on tv that have called in a meaningless emergency landing for a light on the in the toilet and every news station has it up waiting for a crash. What has been more alarming is the careless articles in the US on health, pharmaceuticals, and managed care. Many news sources are printing half of half of a story; citing no factual evidence, or just making vague statements that will clearly SCARE the general public. What you are doing is GREAT! Hopefully we can get this in the US soon."
(this comment has been moderated)

Media Doctor response,

"We believe that a similar site will be starting up in the USA in January 2006. We will post details when they are available."

(14 Dec 2005) barbara writes,

"This is a very good website. Just wanted to tell you, after having read the article on claims about coffee, that one of my work colleagues just told me she's heard that tea prevents cancer. Suspect a lot of people may have been running for the teapot when magazines started extolling the virtues of tea as an antioxidant. Perhaps you might consider doing a segment on tea and antioxidants. Cheers.
Barbara

Barbara - thanks for the comment - we will indeed be featuring stories based on recent research suggesting that tea can protect against ovarian cancer"
(this comment has been moderated)

(24 Nov 2005) A Reader writes,

"(22 Nov 2005) A reader from desperate daughter writes,
"Dear Media Doctor,

I have heard about Dr Holt and his cancer cure, my dad has been diagnosed with cancer and they have no further treatments to offer him, yet they tell us they've never seen a man of his 60 years of age in his condition, he has the strength of a 45 year old man, unfortunately his cancer has progressed from his throat (op of a laryngectomy) removed cancer, unfortunately it is in his lungs now, he was a non smoker and a very fit man. my dad us strong enough, and willing enough to try any thing any one has to offer, and Dr Holt looks good to us, please is there any way you can help us, or advise us in this,

yours sincerely Kylie""

Media Doctor response,

"Kylie - thanks for writing

"Dr Holt's treatments have been carefully reviewed by the National Health and Medical Research Council. Their report is at http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/news/media/rel05/holt.htm

The relevant section of the summary is as follows:

The final report on the therapeutic effectiveness and safety of microwave cancer therapy concluded that:

There is no high-quality published scientific evidence which shows superior benefit in terms of therapeutic effectiveness for the treatment of cancer with: microwave (or UHF) cancer therapy when combined with radiotherapy (used by Dr Holt before 1991); or microwave cancer therapy when used in combination with glucose blocking agents (used by Dr Holt since 1991)

Microwave cancer therapy in combination with radiotherapy was inferior compared to standard conventional radiotherapy with respect to disease control and survival for patients with breast cancer, lung cancer, lymphoma or prostate cancer.

There was no significant difference in survival between conventional radiotherapy and microwave therapy used in combination with radiotherapy for patients with head and neck, colorectal or bladder cancer.

Microwave therapy in combination with glucose blocking agents was inferior to radiotherapy in terms of symptom control and disease control in patients with bladder or any invasive cancer.

There is insufficient information to make a reliable assessment of the safety of UHF in combination with radiotherapy, or in combination with glucose blocking agents for the treatment of patients with cancer.""

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