MEDICAL JOURNAL APOLOGIZES FOR PUBLISHING RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL IN PLACE OF SOCIAL COMMENTARY

The Malingerer - The editor of The New England Journal of The Lancet issued an apology Wednesday after it accidentally published a randomized controlled trial in place of a social commentary. The admission comes after a study that compared corticosteroids to methotrexate in polymyalgia rheumatica was published instead of an opinion piece on the latest social issue.

The Malingerer spoke to the journal's editor, Dr. Sebastian Proffer, about the gaffe. "We really dropped the ball," he said. "Normally, we would have printed an editorial on policing by some PhD who has never once had to deal with the general public, much less, criminals. Or at the very least, we could have published some utopic view of how the healthcare system should work by an academic who has never spent a minute in a clinic or ER dealing with patients. These are the types of insightful essays our readers have come to expect. Again, I apologize for the mistake. We really try to limit how much science goes into each issue."

Dr. Proffer went on to explain the role of scientific medical journals in today's society. "The Internet, social media, and a long list of biased media outlets have been unable to satisfy the public's insatiable desire to hear someone else's opinion on everything from race to global warming. It's important that medical journals step up and help fill this void."