There are thousands of claims in healthcare. Most are untrue. Your inability to assess these claims for yourself renders you vulnerable. By applying the principles of Critical Thinking, this blog aims to help you evaluate healthcare claims for yourself.

The process, in theory, is surprisingly simple. A claim is only as good as the KIND of evidence that supports it. Therefore, our task is to identify the evidence enticing us, determine what KIND it is, and whether that KIND is reliable or not. 

For example, suppose you're convinced that a treatment works because your friend had a good response. This KIND of evidence is anecdotal. We then ask, "In general, is anecdotal evidence in health claims reliable?", "What is the track record?", "How often do anecdotes lead to the truth, and how often do they mislead?". If anecdotes are unreliable with other claims, why would they be reliable with yours?

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