But it's awfully irresponsible to pretend it's good for society to spread it.
Not everyone has the scientific knowledge necessary to understand p-values and what they mean for research like this. It's a lot to ask that everyone know the standard for publishing in medicine is a p-value < 0.05, which corresponds to a 5% chance of the study's results being wrong. It's a lot to ask that everyone be aware that there were 130 different studies on hydroxychloroquine and to do the math from there to determine that we'd expect 6 or 7 of them to be wrong.
It's much better to say "just because it's not illegal doesn't mean it's a good idea" and just not share such thoroughly bad information.
But it's awfully irresponsible to pretend it's good for society to spread it.
Not everyone has the scientific knowledge necessary to understand p-values and what they mean for research like this. It's a lot to ask that everyone know the standard for publishing in medicine is a p-value < 0.05, which corresponds to a 5% chance of the study's results being wrong. It's a lot to ask that everyone be aware that there were 130 different studies on hydroxychloroquine and to do the math from there to determine that we'd expect 6 or 7 of them to be wrong.
It's much better to say "just because it's not illegal doesn't mean it's a good idea" and just not share such thoroughly bad information.