As part of the Vega Cultura literary salon, on Friday, February 2, 2024, at 7 pm, in Frattamaggiore, at Vega Café (Corso Durante, 162), Professor Matteo Bassetti will present his latest book 'Pinocchi in Camice. Sulla salute non si scherza' (Piemme Edizioni), interviewed by Nicola Ruocco, founder of the festival 'Gli Incontri di Valore'. The event is part of the social responsibility plan of Marican Holding, which has always shown great attention to the spread of the concept of culture as a moment of healthy aggregation and social growth. Prof Bassetti is among the most famous faces that the general public has come to know during the pandemic. Infectious disease specialist and researcher, he is a full professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Genoa and Director of the Infectious Diseases department of the San Martino Hospital in Genoa. 'Pinocchi in Camice. Sulla salute non si scherza' is a useful book to understand the fundamental value of the scientific method and how fake news operates in the medical field.
In recent years, medical science has been invaded by false news and false gurus. While on the one hand the network has democratized access to information, on the other hand the pervasive use of the internet has consistently contributed to misinformation in the health field. The Pinocchios in white coats are all those doctors, pseudo-doctors, pharmacists, nurses, nutritionists, osteopaths who, in bad faith, for easy gains or out of ignorance, lie to their patients, making them believe they can solve their problems with therapies that have no scientific basis. But how do you unmask the big lies around medicine? What answers to give to patients who every day hear about the miraculous remedies for their health problems?
Matteo Bassetti retraces the most famous stories of treatments that have proven to be ineffective or harmful, the most glaring scams and the mechanisms through which some supposed luminaries have often enjoyed the applause and defense of institutions and media. From Covid to homeopathy, from miracle diets to Stamina, from the Di Bella method to the excessive use of antibiotics, a collection of beliefs and supposed truths that have deluded, deceived or simply distorted cures and treatments in recent decades. With an unusual verve and a scathing confidence derived from many years of study and research in the field, Matteo Bassetti marks a clear line of separation between what is scientifically proven and what falls into the field of speculation, if not of the real organized scam, also thanks to the testimonies of authoritative exponents of the world of information and science, from Bruno Vespa to Ilaria Capua, to name a few, but also of ordinary citizens.