Theodore Dalrymple is a retired physician in Great Britain, who has written an account of his year’s-worth of reading the New England Journal of Medicine. In his new book False Positive: A Year of Error, Omission, and Political Correctness in the New England Journal of Medicine (Encounter Books, 2019), he recounts each week’s new edition of the Journal with an eye toward analytical errors and a culture of political correctness in regard to the handling of medical and public health issues. Dalrymple notes how the medical community must put a significant degree of faith in the reliability of such publications, especially due to the scarcity of time that most practicing physicians have to dedicate to scrutinizing articles. But he warns that some publications often contain basic mistakes, such as the failure to understand that correlation is not causation. He is also concerned with the prevalence of political correctness concerning health issues and how they can affect the public’s understanding of these issues.
Ian J. Drake is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Law at Montclair State University. His scholarly interests include American legal and constitutional history and political theory.

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