Do no harm

A doctor’s brave and brilliant study examines the dangers of increasing overdiagnosis, from ADHD to long Covid

Adam Rutherford

We swim in oceans of quackery. The media is flooded with misinformation about health and pseudo-diagnoses based on vibes rather than evidence. Books awash with error and supposition swamp our charts, penned by people uniquely unqualified to write them. Our ears are filled with popular podcasts claiming health benefits but really just peddling unregulated dietary supplements. And Robert Kennedy Jr, a man who has spent a lifetime spewing antivaccine jibber-jabber, is now the US secretary of health. Vaccination is arguably the most successful health intervention in history (with the possible exception of sanitation), and we should be basking in the fact that a global pandemic was brought to a close by safe and effective vaccines. But here’s the conundrum: medical diagnoses are on the rise across the board, and this…

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Guardian Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, 21 March 2025

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