Trapped in an airport yesterday, I watched "medical nonsense" run again and again on CNN. Wondering how to "Page Dr. Gupta," I also wondered if CNN has been the latest victim of the "war on science" and what medical specialty might cure it.
The case in point, the "in vitro fertilization" that resulted in octuplets. (Congratulations, tax payers, you've paid about a million so far for their delivery!)
The quotes that the media kept scrolling were mutually exclusive of logic:
Here's the quote:
Angela Suleman told The Associated Press she was not supportive when her daughter, Nadya Suleman, decided to have more embryos implanted last year.
Then this quote:
It's not clear if the octuplets' mother had embryos implanted. Another option is egg stimulation through fertility drugs, which provides less control. The doctor is supposed to use blood tests and ultrasound to monitor how many egg follicles develop. If too many do, the doctor is supposed to stop the drugs.
But Grandmother was all over the media indicating that the procedure had been chosen because her daughter's "tubes were gummed up." That suggestsdeliberate in vitro fertilization, a very expensive procedure.
Her mother told the Los Angeles Times on Thursday that the woman had received fertility treatment and that she had embryos implanted
If they were implanted, then the number 8 had to have been deliberate!
The same CNN article suggests that the mother had a nanny! But the hospital records suggest she's on public assistance and medicaid. (This leaves one to wonder if her eligibility was running out because her youngest existing child was too old, but no report of that.)
Now, this is not a criticism of the mother. We truly don't know!
The point I'm making is that the MSM has produced absolutely nonsensical and mutually exclusive news reports, without the slightest attempt to reconcile them, just to fill a slow news weekend. If they don't know, they shouldn't report.
Right after the octuplet "scroll" came a supposedly cute report of a newborn with polydactylly. The report suggested that the condition was extremely rare and totally benign. In fact, this condition is relatively common in some populations (one in 500), and normally associated with a number of other congenital symptoms (a syndrome). The condition may be benign or may be part of something larger, but labeling it "cute" to make weekend news footage does a disservice to the thinking public.
The war on science continues, and on weekends, at least (with Maddow and Olbermann getting ready for superbowl parties) brains need not apply.