Everybody now knows that while the outbreak of swine flu reached pandemic proportions, the disease itself was less severe than first feared. Illness and death certainly occurred but the original figures never materialised. Despite early estimates suggesting deaths in the UK alone of between 3,100 – 65,000, recent evidence indicates that the figure will be [...]

Whatever else, arguments for and against assisted dying must include the notion of cruelty. In my view there can be little more cruel than to decline the request for help in, or advice on, dying from patients of sound mind, who are competent to make decisions, who are suffering unbearably from a disabling disease for [...]

For those who follow elections closely, party manifestos are compulsory reading. In some policy areas they set out very specific intentions, in others they offer an overall feel, and in yet others there is a veil of silence. The manifestos of the three main UK parties, as they relate to the future provision of medicines, [...]

In a recent blog I suggested that relationships between students and teachers will have been changed in those medical schools where students address the staff by their first names. As I saw it, the practice of addressing teachers using surnames and titles will have provided some sort of barrier between teachers and taught. Where this [...]

With seven members of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) resigning in the last few months, and its chair, Professor David Nutt, being sacked, there must be something very wrong with the circumstances in which this group of experts find themselves.

A key component of medicine is the diagnosis. The principle process we use for reaching a diagnosis is to identify the patient’s signs and symptoms and then look for a unifying explanation. Based on the explanation, we then label the disease. So, where an illness has three key features (viz oedema, albuminuria and hypoalbuminemia as [...]

Recently I attended a debate on aspects of the pharmaceutical industry. The venue was prestigious as was the audience. There were two speakers and each was given twenty minutes for presentation followed by ten for discussion. The first speaker addressed his title with a talk clearly prepared for the occasion: he entertained, used well-chosen illustrations, [...]

Over the Christmas period the UK had its snowiest, iciest winter in years. It brought with it the obvious medical problems: deaths from hypothermia, breaks and strains and other injuries from falls and accidents, and the disruption caused by hospital closures. It will also have caused countless patients to miss their appointments for starting chemotherapy [...]

I strongly believe we are heading for one almighty battle. Millions and millions of pounds have been spent by the drugs industry in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. Much more money is being reaped as drugs (often of marginal benefit) are used in its management worldwide. With this scenario all was looking secure for the [...]