•July 6, 2016•

By Trudy Lieberman
Rural Health News Service

A story in The Guardian, a British news outlet that now has a publishing arm in the U.S., grabbed my attention. The headline read, “Treatments for cancers and Alzheimer’s on the verge of a breakthrough.”

Really? Now, I’ve written about this stuff long enough to know the word “breakthrough” is a red flag. Anyone who hears the word or sees it in print should be skeptical.

There are very few genuine breakthroughs, but there’s lots of enthusiasm for the term on the part of the media, physicians, academic medical centers and others who use it to attract attention to a product or a service. It’s a dandy marketing tool. Who wouldn’t want a “breakthrough” cure for cancer or Alzheimer’s disease?

Sure enough, the first paragraph of the Guardian’s story noted that new emerging treatments “may, in the next 10 to 20 years, transform the way people are treated.” Ten or 20 years doesn’t exactly sound like a breakthrough is imminent. But the word sure gets people to read the story and pay attention when they see advertising for the product.      Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.