Main description:

This book argues that if we consider the ubiquity of small effect sizes in medicine, the extent of misleading evidence in medical research, the thin theoretical basis of many interventions, and the malleability of empirical methods, and if we employ our best inductive framework, then our confidence in medical interventions ought to be low.

Contents:

1: Introduction
Part I. Concepts
2: Effectiveness of Medical Interventions
3: Effectiveness and Medicalization
4: Magic Bullets
Part II. Methods
5: Down with the Hierarchies
6: Malleability of Meta-Analysis
7: Assessing Medical Evidence
8: Measuring Effectiveness
9: Hollow Hunt for Harms
Part III. Evidence and Values
10: Bias and Fraud
11: Medical Nihilism
12: Conclusion
Appendix 1. Bayes' Theorem and Screening
Appendix 2. Measurement Scales
Appendix 3. Epistemic Proof of Superiority of RD over RR
Appendix 4. Decision-Theoretic Proof of Superiority of RD over RR
Appendix 5. Modeling the Measurement of Effectiveness