This morning [May 24] I was faced with a glaring headline in the Globe and Mail about the thousands of patients being killed by our health care institutions. The newspaper article1 discussed a study by Ross Baker and colleagues2 appearing in the May 25, 2004, issue of CMAJ. I immediately logged onto eCMAJ to read the article, but could find neither the article nor the issue of CMAJ in which it appears.
I thought there were firmly established guidelines about “advance” presentation of research results to the news media when a researcher's professional peers have not yet had a chance to read the article in question. Should the general public have access to an article, through the lay media, before the medical profession has had a chance to see it?
Arnold Voth Active staff Royal Alexandra Hospital Edmonton, Alta.