"Occasionally, we'll see an ad or hear about something in what I would call the wellness-industrial complex (companies eager to earn a buck on people by sending lab tests that have dubious clinical significance and then selling the customer a cure, a panacea, or a longevity or athleticism cheat code), and he'll become surprisingly resentful and woeful about the entire concept of medicine, complaining that it offers him nothing because it only treats diseases rather than offering enhancements that could make him, essentially, superior to a typical disease free human (superhuman?)."
"When I try to explain the limitations of ethical and scientifically sound medical research, he responds as if I'm a fool who can't see the fullness of human potential, or that I genuinely don't know what I'm talking about. But I literally am an expert, and he's not in the field at all. He's not an RFK guy, but his attitude in these conversations makes me see how easily people slip into that MAHA mindset. What can I do?"
"Dear I Went to School, What an incredible case study in how our information environment is making life difficult for medical professionals. You'd think a fellow STEM person would be able to understand that medicine has its own ways of research, and while they're not perfect, there are good reasons they evolved the way they did. But your husband is certainly not alone-there are plenty of STEM-educated people out there who distrust medicine. Disinformation is rampant, and podcasts and influencers are making a tough situation worse."
An emergency room doctor with over a decade of experience reports persistent conflict with her husband, a scientist who embraces fitness and wellness-industry claims. He becomes resentful when encountering wellness ads or dubious at-home lab tests and insists conventional medicine only treats disease rather than offering human enhancements. She finds her explanations about the limits of ethical, scientifically sound medical research dismissed and feels belittled despite her expertise. The situation exemplifies how disinformation, podcasts, and influencers can erode trust in medicine even among STEM-educated people. The doctor fears the attitude resembles a MAHA mindset and asks how to respond.
Read at Slate Magazine
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