Medical controversies

infectious disease caused by Borrelia bacteria, spread through the bite of blacklegged ticks

Thalidomide, sold under the brand names Contergan, Distaval and Thalomid among others, is an oral administered medication used to treat a number of cancers (e.g., multiple myeloma), graft-versus-host disease, and many skin disorders (e.g., complications of leprosy such as skin lesions). Thalidomide has been used to treat conditions associated with HIV: aphthous ulcers, HIV-associated wasting syndrome, diarrhea, and Kaposi's sarcoma, but increases in HIV viral load have been reported.

chemical compound

uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope U-235 than natural uranium

military herbicide

set of medical symptoms affecting U.S. and Canada government personnel

pseudoscientific or religious attempt to change sexual orientation or gender identity

Zolpidem, sold under the brand name Ambien among others, is a medication primarily used for the short-term treatment of sleeping problems. Guidelines recommend that it be used only after cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and after behavioral changes, such as sleep hygiene, have been tried. It decreases the time to sleep onset by about fifteen minutes and at larger doses helps people stay asleep longer. It is taken by mouth and is available as conventional tablets, extended-release tablets, or sublingual tablets.

addition of fluoride to a water supply to reduce tooth decay

prosthesis used to change the size, shape, and contour of a person's breast

Mefloquine, sold under the brand name Lariam among others, is a medication used to prevent or treat malaria. When used for prevention it is typically started before potential exposure and continued for several weeks after potential exposure. It can be used to treat mild or moderate malaria but is not recommended for severe malaria. It is taken by mouth.

Pyrimethamine, sold under the brand name Daraprim among others, is a medication used with leucovorin (leucovorin is used to decrease side effects of pyrimethamine; it does not have intrinsic anti-parasitic activity) to treat the parasitic diseases toxoplasmosis and cystoisosporiasis. It is also used with dapsone as a second-line option to prevent Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia in people with HIV/AIDS. It was previously used for malaria but is no longer recommended due to resistance. Pyrimethamine is taken by mouth.

belief, contradicted by conclusive evidence, that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) does not cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)

prayer and gestures that are perceived to bring divine intervention in physical healing

use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition

visual impairment

French scientist (1816–1908)

Medicalization is the process by which human conditions and problems come to be defined and treated as medical conditions, and thus become the subject of medical study, diagnosis, prevention, or treatment. Medicalization can be driven by new evidence or hypotheses about conditions; by changing social attitudes or economic considerations; or by the development of new medications or treatments.

thumb|Osteopenia exists on a spectrum of normal to dangerously low bone density (osteoporosis).

Psychosurgery, also called neurosurgery for mental disorder (NMD), is the neurosurgical treatment of mental disorders. Psychosurgery has always been a controversial medical field. The modern history of psychosurgery begins in the 1880s under the Swiss psychiatrist Gottlieb Burckhardt. The first significant foray into psychosurgery in the 20th century was conducted by the Portuguese neurologist Egas Moniz who, during the mid-1930s, developed the operation known as leucotomy. The practice was enthusiastically taken up in the United States by the neuropsychiatrist Walter Freeman and the neurosurg

American Pharmaceuticals Company

mental effects of undergoing an abortion

type of fermented rice

inadequate unconscious state during general anesthesia

medical condition

Jehovah's Witnesses doctrinal position about use of blood

foodborne illness

policy on blood donation

organization reporting scientific paper retraction

rare condition characterized by generalized obesity and fatty tumors in the adipose tissue.

model predicting health effects of radiation

Noelia Castillo Ramos was a Spanish woman who died after receiving euthanasia. Her request for euthanasia became a landmark case in Spain on the application of the Organic Law Regulating Euthanasia in the country. At age 25, she was one of the youngest people to receive medical assistance in dying after demonstrating chronic and irreversible pain. Her case garnered significant public attention due to a two-year legal battle, in which the High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) had to intervene to validate her right against appeals filed by her father and the Christian Lawyers Association, who questioned her legal capacity.

controversies regarding circumcision

species of virus

organization

chemical compound

controversies relating to ADHD

notion that abortion increases breast cancer risk

proposed method of generating pluripotent stem cells

Unconventional academic journal (1975-)

chemical compound

medical subspecialty

purported chemical weapon

website covering issues in science and medicine, focusing on quackery

company

tobacco industry marketing and political strategy to protect revenues in the face of evidence linking smoking and serious diseases

controversies about both the cause of autism and the nature of the diagnoses themselves

dispute over which viewpoint should predominate and form a basis of psychiatric theory and practice; criticism of a claimed strict biological view of psychiatric thinking; includes disparate groups such as the antipsychiatry

brain surgery to treat epilepsy

controversy and conspiracy theory