Scientific Inquiry in Medicine By Frank W. Jackson, MD

Last updated: 7/8/2022

Scientific Inquiry in Medicine By Frank W. Jackson, MD Science has been a latecomer in the world's history. Up until the 20th century, there was no precise testing of any treatment. If the patient didn't die and did recover, there was acceptance that whatever treatment was given must have worked. Most of what was done for the patient was not helpful, but not harmful either. At times, however, it was dangerous. For instance, our founding father, George Washington, was bled in 1799 when he had pneumonia, undoubtedly hastening his death. In the 1800s things hadn't really changed very much. One main reason was that there were so few good treatments for any medical condition. Even as late as the 1950s, the effective medications were few: the heart medicine digitalis, aspirin, sulfa and another new antibiotic called penicillin, a few toxic diuretics, some hormones, Maalox for indigestion and herbs. Even though there was little to offer (we didn't really know it at the time), patients still came to see physicians and patients did get better. So what is [Scientific Inquiry]-on which all modern medicine and science are based? Simply put, it means that a treatment or a hypothesis is subjected to rigorous testing to see if the treatment works or if the hypothesis is true. For example, a scientist hypothesizes that a drug will be effective in treating a certain disease. The fact that the scientist wants to believe it does not make it so. Testing must be done. Sometimes, it doesn't work or it actually makes the patient worse. [The research process allows the scientific community to accumulate information to verify scientific information.] Still, it is the best system we have. All scientists, not just doctors, use this technique in one form or another. The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) uses these scientific guidelines to approve new treatments. So whenever someone or some published article mentions a great treatment for some disease, we need to question the data. Testimonials by individuals don't really mean much. They can sound great but, from a scientific viewpoint, they are almost meaningless. In fact, they may actually be damaging, as there may be a serious underlying problem such as cancer, which is not discovered early. The FDA does an enormous amount of [regulation]. To the extent possible, they assure us that the food we eat is safe. They brought us the new food labels that provide a great deal of valuable information for the consumer on calories, fat, sodium and other nutrients. They regulate medical devices. We would never buy a heart valve from Best Buy and ask a physician to insert it just because a friend said it was great. Likewise, the FDA regulates the pharmaceutical drug industry [by creating a clear process for science to go through a systematic screening. This screening ensures that devices, drugs, and medical best practices are safe and lives up to their claims.] The public benefits by being assured that the prescription medicines they take and the medical devices used on them have undergone rigorous scientific testing. Directions: Respond to the following questions in your science journal. 1. According to the author, what are characteristics of scientific inquiry in medicine?