New England Journal of Medicine “Survey” On Doctors & Health Care Reform Is A Fake

2:06 pm EST March 17th, 2010 | Media | 20 Comments

Shocker.

Right-wing media have seized on a dubious, three-month old email “survey” that purports to show that physicians are concerned about health care reform and that 46 percent of the primary care doctors surveyed “indicated that they would leave medicine – or try to leave medicine – as a result of health reform.” Many media figures have falsely attributed this survey to the New England Journal of Medicine. For example, on Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade said: “The New England Journal of Medicine has published a report and did a survey, and they said the impact of reform on primary care physicians, 46 percent, they say, feel reform will force them out or make them want to leave medicine.”

This is false.

Media Matters for America contacted the New England Journal of Medicine, which confirmed it neither conducted nor published the “survey.”

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20 Responses to “New England Journal of Medicine “Survey” On Doctors & Health Care Reform Is A Fake”

  1. mambochicken23 says:

    I think it’s a bad thing for my mental health that this kind of thing doesn’t surprise me, even a little bit, anymore.

  2. merl says:

    Does this mean that WalMart will have a lot of greeters with Medical Degrees?

  3. mambochicken23 says:

    OW, it also reminds me of the GOP and FOX News pushing blatantly false stories in the last year, such as “death panels.” They have no shame. It boils down to, “Who gives a shit whether it’s true? We have a bill to defeat, and a President to break!”

    Fuck the GOP. Pass the bill.

  4. jr says:

    Megyn Kelly pimped this. “Straight news”

  5. Do they run stories past fact checkers over there, or only the stories that don’t fit in perfectly with their agenda?

  6. Joe says:

    The NEJM did in fact publish the link to this survey, but as part of an advertisement, not an article:

    http://www.nejmjobs.org/rpt/physician-survey-health-reform-impact.aspx

  7. Joe, you know that now that they have that straw to grasp, it’s time to PASS THE BILL!!!

    The possibility that the answers are legitimate means not a thing to them …

    And look at Mambo’s comment : Fuck the Republicans ! Pass the Bill!

    That’s looking out for the interests of the less fortunate, if I ever saw it!

    You guys are all pathetic!

    You want partisan politics ?

    Pass that Bill and kiss 2010 and 2012 good bye !!!

  8. Quaker in a Basement says:

    Followed the link. No survey. Just a short article trumpeting a few results.

  9. Quaker in a Basement says:

    All the survey results are based on the premise “if there’s a public option.” There is not a public option in the current bill. So what’s your point?

    (Why doctors would care is a puzzle to me, but that’s another matter.)

  10. David says:

    New England Journal of Medicine “Survey” On Doctors & Health Care Reform Was Posted On NEJMjobs.org
    The survey results were posted on this web page:

    http://www.nejmjobs.org/rpt/physician-survey-health-reform-impact.aspx

    They have since been removed and replaced with a statement and link to the medicus website. I still have the original tab open in Firefox. If someone can tell me how to save a screenshot I will post it.

  11. Quaker, when was the last time you went looking for a Doctor, when the only medical insurance you had was Medicaid?

    Liberals are famous for pretending that they know all about the suffering of the less fortunate – but they never experience it, and know that they never will.

  12. mambochicken23 says:

    Are you drinking again, Frank? Your excessive use of exclamation marks and nonsensicality makes me think that something is wrong with you. Rather, something more is wrong with you.

    The Republicans have negotiated this issue in bad faith from Day 1. Therefore, I do not care if their wishes w/r/t this legislation are completely ignored. In fact, I’ll be happy if the Dems pass this right in the Republicans faces. Fuck the GOP. Pass the bill.

  13. Jaim says:

    Because elderly Americans are giving up their Medicaid plans in droves. Uh-huh.

    Sorry Frank, but your sad little party is doomed.

  14. Crusty Dem says:

    The value of a debate over health care between two posters who don’t know the difference between medicaid and medicare is probably less than zero..

  15. Crusty Dem, I know Jaim doesn’t know shit from shinola about anything, but I certainly do know the difference between Medicaid and Medicare.

    And, as someone who has wandered around from Doctor to Doctor looking for one that will take Medicaid, I can tell you that if more Doctors fail to sign up for this travesty of a bill, than are already signed up for Medicaid (and take it from me, many Doctors are not taking new Medicaid patients NOW) some people — none of you, of course, or you would never favor this POS legislation — will have a hard time finding a Doctor.

  16. Crusty Dem says:

    My apologies, Frank, based on your age, your “screw the poor”-style conservative values, and generally error-riddled posts, I’d assumed you were both mistaken.

    Please feel free to resume not making sense (oops, too late).

  17. Buzz Killington says:

    Perhaps this is true, but the “liberal” use of “scare quotes” in the “article” undermines its “credibility”. I’ll check for non-partisan confirmation…

  18. Quaker in a Basement says:

    Quaker, when was the last time you went looking for a Doctor, when the only medical insurance you had was Medicaid?

    What in the world does that have to do with this “survey”?

  19. Quaker in a Basement says:

    I can tell you that if more Doctors fail to sign up for this travesty of a bill, than are already signed up for Medicaid

    ???!?!??

  20. Romano says:

    I would like to see that screen shot. Press the print screen button and then paste in on you Microsoft Word program. Let me know if this works. Thanks.