Blind Spots

Outline

Blind Spots (2024) examines cases where the medical establishment held on to beliefs that later proved wrong, sometimes for decades. Marty Makary shows how groupthink, pressure to conform, and reluctance to question experts can lead to poor advice for patients, and explores examples from nutrition, allergies, and hormone treatment. He calls for more humility, open debate, and better use of evidence in medicine.

• Medical beliefs can persist for decades after they are wrong, because the establishment is slow to revisit what it already accepts.
• Groupthink and pressure to conform can push doctors to give patients poor advice.
• Reluctance to question experts is one of the main ways errors in medicine survive.
• Nutrition, allergies, and hormone treatment are examples where accepted advice later proved mistaken.
• Safer healthcare needs more humility, open debate, and better use of evidence.

Marty Makary is an American surgeon, public health researcher, and author who was a professor at Johns Hopkins University. He is known for his work on medical errors, health care costs, and patient safety, and was later appointed Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. His books include Unaccountable, The Price We Pay, and Blind Spots.