Article Summary
The article titled The Doctor Behind the Disputed Covid Data, published in the New
York times on the 27th of July 2020 (Gabler & Rabin, 2020), seeks to give insight into the
practice of the once-celebrated vascular surgeon, Dr Sapan Desai, and his two disputed covid 19
research articles done by him in collaboration with other doctors. The research articles pointed to
in the New York Times publication are; the research article on the effects of Covid-19 on people
with cardiovascular disease titled Cardiovascular Disease, Drug Therapy, and Mortality in
Covid-19, whose research was done in collaboration with other scientists and published in the
New England Journal of Medicine and its subsequent retraction by the same scientists (Mehra,
Desai, Kuy, Henry, & Patel), also published in the same journal. The second article is on the
effects of Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of
COVID-19 published on the Lancet Journal of medicine website (Desai, Ruschitzka, Mehra, &
Patel, 2020), and its retraction also published on the Lancet website (Mehra, Ruschitzka, & Patel,
2020).
Article Research Presentation
The New York Times articles coverage on the subject is overly simplistic. Moreover, it
tends to express the journalists’ point of view on the matter as opposed to expressing research-
based scientific findings. The article begins by focusing attention on the one Dr Sapan Desai. It
brings his past accomplishments as a medical student in a rather personal way, as opposed to
stating them matter-of-factly, to help the reader form an unbiased understanding of the contents
of the article. For example, words such as ‘dramatic’ are used in defining the quoted research on
the effects of the Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment
of COVID-19 paper. The result is, though a factual article, an article riddled with judgmental
undertones as opposed to a science-based discussion of the scientific facts of the articles that
were referenced in it.
Such articles can be shared with patients for the simple purpose of general knowledge of
the goings-on in the medical profession, but not for a proper understanding of the scientific
research and findings underpinning them.
The source articles and the article in the popular press are remarkably different in terms
of the language used and the oversimplification of the issues by the popular press article. Also,
the tone’s of the two articles are remarkably different with the popular press article being rather
personal and story-like in contrast to the cited articles which have a scientific, matter-of-factly
tone, that doesn’t come out as biased and therefore doesn’t sway the writers understanding one
way or the other.
References
Gabler, E., & Rabin, R. C. (2020, July 27). The Doctor Behind the Disputed Covid Data.
Retrieved November 04, 2020, from
Mehra, M. R., Desai, S. S., Kuy, S., Henry, T. D., & Patel, A. N. (2020). Cardiovascular disease,
drug therapy, and mortality in COVID-19. New England Journal of Medicine.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2007621
Mehra, M. R., Desai, S. S., Kuy, S., Henry, T. D., & Patel, A. N. Retraction: Cardiovascular
Disease, Drug Therapy, and Mortality in Covid-19. N Engl J Med. The New England
Journal of Medicine. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2021225
Mehra, P. R., MD, Ruschitzka, P., MD, & Patel, A. N., MD. (2020, June 5).
Retraction—Hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine with or without a macrolide for
treatment of COVID-19: A multinational registry analysis. Retrieved from
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31324-
6/fulltext#coronavirus-linkback-header
Mehra, M. R., Desai, S. S., Ruschitzka, F., & Patel, A. N. (2020). Hydroxychloroquine or
chloroquine with or without a macrolide for treatment of COVID-19: a multinational
registry analysis. The Lancet.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31180-6/fulltext