Overturned – The Withdrawn

TH-001 · 2010

Medical fraud

The Wakefield MMR-Autism Paper — Fraud, Retracted in 2010, and a Measles Comeback That Kills

preventable-infectious-disease research-fraud vaccine-hesitancy gastroenterology immunization pediatrics public-health 1990s 2000s late-20th-century

Full Lancet retraction, 2 Feb 2010; GMC strike-off 24 May 2010 · Retracted

TH-002 · 2005

Medical dogma

The Stress-and-Acid Ulcer Dogma — 70 Years Wrong; It Was a Curable Bacterium

delayed-cure diagnostic-error mistreatment gastroenterology internal-medicine microbiology 1980s 2000s 20th-century

Warren–Marshall isolation 1982; self-infection Jul 1984; Nobel 3 Oct 2005 · Displaced

TH-003 · 1854

Displaced dogma

Miasma Theory — 2,300 Years of ‘Bad Air,’ Undone by One Pump Handle in 1854

epidemic-mismanagement flawed-public-health-model epidemiology infectious-disease public-health 19th-century pre-modern

Snow's Broad Street investigation, Aug–Sep 1854; pump handle removed 8 Sep 1854 · Displaced

TH-004 · 1864

Foundational scientific error

Spontaneous Generation — a 2,200-Year Belief Killed by One Swan-Necked Flask

foundational-scientific-error biology microbiology 19th-century pre-modern

Pasteur's swan-neck flask (1859–64); Alhumbert Prize, 1862; Sorbonne lecture, 7 Apr 1864 · Debunked

TH-005 · 2016

Industry-captured science

The Sugar-Funded Fat-Heart Verdict — Big Sugar Bought the 1967 Conclusion, Exposed in 2016

distorted-dietary-guidance industry-capture undisclosed-conflict-of-interest cardiology nutrition public-health 1960s 2010s mid-20th-century

UCSF/JAMA Internal Medicine exposé, 12 Sept 2016 (DOI 10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.5394) · Debunked

TH-006 · 2002

Flawed observational inference

The HRT-Prevents-Heart-Disease Doctrine — a 16,608-Woman Trial Halted for Causing the Heart Attacks

flawed-observational-inference iatrogenic-cardiovascular-risk overprescription cardiology epidemiology gynecology womens-health 2000s late-20th-century

WHI E+P arm halted 8 Jul 2002; JAMA 2002;288(3):321–333; CHD HR 1.29 · Displaced

TH-007

Pseudoscience

Phrenology — Reading Character From Skull Bumps, Debunked When the Faculties Proved Imaginary

discriminatory-profiling pseudoscience scientific-racism anatomy neuroscience psychology 19th-century

Flourens' Recherches expérimentales (1824); ablation studies, 1820s–1840s · Debunked

TH-008 · 1851

Scientific racism

Drapetomania — the 1851 ‘Diagnosis’ That Called Wanting Freedom a Disease Cured by Whipping

medical-complicity-in-atrocity pseudoscience scientific-racism medicine psychiatry 19th-century

No association; never replicated; mocked from 1855; carried no clinical basis from the outset · Debunked

TH-009 · 1980

Gender bias in diagnosis

Female Hysteria — 2,400 Years of the ‘Wandering Womb,’ Deleted From the DSM in 1980

gender-bias-in-diagnosis pathologizing-of-women pseudoscience gynecology neurology psychiatry 19th-century 20th-century pre-modern

"Hysterical neurosis" deleted in DSM-III, 1980 · Debunked

TH-010

Iatrogenic mutilation

Focal Infection Theory — Millions of Needless Extractions and Colectomies That Killed Over 30%

fatal-overtreatment iatrogenic-mutilation unnecessary-surgery dentistry internal-medicine psychiatry surgery 1900s-1940s early-20th-century

Cecil & Angevine controlled study, Annals of Internal Medicine, 1938; Reimann & Havens, 1940 · Debunked

TH-011 · 1964

Pseudoscience

Lysenkoism — Soviet Pseudoscience That Banned Genetics, Jailed Thousands, and Starved Millions

harmful-standard-of-care iatrogenic-mortality history-of-medicine internal-medicine 19th-century pre-modern

Academy of Sciences repudiation 1964–65; Lysenko removed from Institute of Genetics, Feb 1965 · Debunked

TH-012 · 1994

Pseudoscientific therapy

Recovered-Memory Therapy — Excavated ‘Repressed’ Trauma That Was Implanted, Broken in Court by 1994

miscarriage-of-justice pseudoscientific-therapy wrongful-accusation forensic-psychology psychiatry psychology 1980s 1990s late-20th-century

Loftus, Am. Psychologist 1993; Ramona v. Isabella verdict, 13 May 1994 · Debunked

TH-013 · 2008

Educational pseudoscience

Learning Styles — Found Evidence-Free in 2008, Still Believed by Nine in Ten Teachers

educational-pseudoscience neuromyth wasted-resources cognitive-psychology education 2000s late-20th-century

Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer & Bjork, Psychological Science in the Public Interest, Dec 2008 · Debunked

TH-014 · 1974

Textbook neuromyth

The Tongue Taste Map — a 1942 Mistranslation Falsified When Receptors Turned Up Everywhere

neuromyth textbook-error education physiology sensory-neuroscience 20th-century

Collings, Perception & Psychophysics 16:169–174 (1974); receptor mapping, 2000s · Debunked

TH-015 · 1868

Pseudoscience

Masturbatory Insanity — Confining and Operating on Thousands for a Disease That Never Existed

iatrogenic-harm moral-medicine pseudoscience medicine psychiatry 18th-century 19th-century

Maudsley retreats from his own 1868 claim by the 1890s; field abandons it; Hare's 1962 autopsy declares "today no one believes this" · Debunked

Taught as fact. Then reversed.