In Israel, a country where we don’t need reminding of the precariousness of life, absolute terms like life and death are sometimes blurred. This gives power to the sort of faith that relatives tend to develop, on their endless journey of praying for their dreams - of resurrecting their loved ones from the enemy’s hands - to come true. more…

We are well into the first term now, and we are starting to do some modules that are not just straight science. One of these is an epidemiology module. I was a little apprehensive about this, as someone had told me that epidemiology was “just health statistics”. But when we started, I realised it wasn’t nearly as boring as I had expected (no offence to any epidemiologists). more…

Debbie Purdy, a 45 year old woman with progressive multiple sclerosis, failed in her bid last month to be able to end her life when her excruciating symptoms become unbearable for her. When the time comes, she wants her husband to accompany her to Dignitas, a Swiss clinic, which will prescribe a lethal dose of barbiturates, thus sparing her a life of suffering that she finds not worth living. more…

So that’s four weeks of medical school gone. Just six more years left. The first month has been pretty hectic, but thoroughly enjoyable. It started off, as most courses do, with a couple of weeks of social events to get everyone introduced to everyone else. These included a pirate themed boat party, a beach themed party, a salsa night and a black-tie ball. Needless to say, I now have a very impressive collection of fancy dress. more…

On 19 of October I arrived in Madrid, the the place of beautiful parks, live flamenco, brilliant nightlife, churros, a Spanish type of long thin doughnut, El Rastro, an enormous outdoor market, and the Golden Triangle of art museums. But I wasn’t really there for the tapas, I was there for environmental health matters. I am taking one year out of medical school to explore medical journalism, and word reached me that there was a workshop for young journalists in Spain on the topics of health and the environment, with the World Health Youth (WHY) Communication Network on environment and health. more…

“By far the most dangerous foe we have to fight is apathy - indifference from whatever cause, not from a lack of knowledge, but from carelessness, from absorption in other pursuits, from a contempt bred of self satisfaction”
William Osler (1849-1919)

Dominique Jean Larrey was strongly affected by the misfortunes of others. He would often describe how serious disasters afflicted his soul, filling him with profound grief. Late into the eighteenth century the skilled but sensitive physician was assigned to be divisional Surgeon-Major in the army of the Rhine. It was enough for him to observe the poor medical organization of the French army, and its intolerable toll, for a revolutionary concept to form, that would alter military surgery forever. more…

I have just read a BMJ news story about doctors being beaten up in Nepal for the death of a patient. While this may seem to be quite shocking for the western society, it is an everyday reality for us, medicos, living and practising in Nepal.

Over the past five years such incidents have been occurring at regular intervals. As rightly mentioned in the article, high expectation from a doctor is one of the prime reasons for violent behaviour on the part of relatives of a patient. Doctors are seen as god in the Nepalese society. The popular belief is that they can treat and cure any condition. Hence, nothing can and should go wrong after a patient is brought to a hospital. And if it does, it is because the doctor did not try hard enough. And with this thought comes anger which leads to violence. more…

Last week I went to a two day discussion meeting at the Royal Society on talent and autism.  It raised a lot of thought provoking questions, not only about autism but also about wider issues such as the working of the brain.  Special skills are far more common in autism spectrum disorders than any other group, but why is this the case? 

Do we all have the capacity for special skills, buried deep within our minds? more…

The procedures of admissions to medical school are extremely varied around the world. Yet they seem to have one thing in common – success is considered a huge deal. At the next family reunion, you are bound to have enchanted relatives patting you on the back, dropping comments about how you make them proud. Are such complements now slightly premature however? What made you stand out amongst the many applicants, allowing you to fish a letter of acceptance out of your mailbox? more…

Baroness Warnock, one of Britain’s leading ethical experts recently talked of the “right to die” of patients with dementia. She called for more research into the illness, in order to establish whether patients with dementia were mentally competent. Thus when they reached a certain point in their illness, they could make a decision of whether they wanted to be “helped to die.” more…