False Positive ― A Year of Error, Omission and Political Correctness in the New England Journal of Medicine

The book is a running commentary, week by week, on the New England Journal of Medicine, one of the most important general medical journals in the world, during the year 2017. It demonstrates that the conclusions of many of the papers in it are not only flawed, but obviously flawed - though for lack of time, many doctors will not examine them closely and will therefore be taken as authoritative. In some cases there is the suspicion of actual corruption. There are errors of reasoning and obvious omissions, apparently undetected by the editors. In addition, in its examination of social questions the Journal is solidly politically correct, and practically no debate on these matters appears in its printed version. Highly debatable points of view go completely undebated. The Journal reads as if there is only one possible point of view, its own, though the American medical profession, to say nothing of its extensive foreign readership, is more than a millions strong and cannot possibly be universally in agreement with the stances it takes. It is thus more megaphone than sounding board - as, in the opinion of the author, it should be. The book is not intended to be destructive, however: praise and admiration are given where the author thinks they are due. However, it should encourage the general reader to be wary of the latest medical doctrines, and to take a constructively critical stand to the latest medical news.

Theodore Dalrymple was born in London in 1949. He retired as a full-time doctor in 2005. He is the author of many books, notably Life at the Bottom (Ivan Dee) and Romancing Opiates (Encounter), in the latter challenging the notion that heroin addiction is a bona fide disease.