Like the proverbial tree falling in the forest, if a cure is discovered and reported in the medical literature but never picked up by the lay press, it might as well not have been found. Such is the situation with a paper published in 2002 (1) showing how to prevent 90% of kidney dialysis. The lay press has insisted on an endorsement from the renal community; the author's word was insufficient. Even medical reporters at the NY Times told me they couldn't judge a scientific paper for themselves, a skill usually learned in university. Two more sad truths: (1) dialysis is too lucrative for anybody in healthcare to want to eliminate it; and (2) even bureaucrats at Medicare, NICE and the NHS have no desire to eliminate their disease, and, with it, their salary. Medicine is in a woeful state, and the spirit of public health is moribund. Even worse, nobody knows it. It took me the past 15 years to discover how badly off we, the public, are.

References
1. Moskowitz DW. From pharmacogenomics to improved patient outcomes: angiotensin I-converting enzyme as an example. Diabetes Technol Ther. 2002;4(4):519-32.
PMID: 12396747. (For PDF file, click on paper #1 at: http://www.genomed.com/in...)

2. Moskowitz, DW. Promoting dialysis alternative. Letter. ACP Observer, Dec. 2006 (http://www.acponline.org/...)