European Union politics occasionally produces a humiliating own goal, but few are likely to be as deadly and unethical as a proposed new approach to tobacco policy. On 8 October, […]
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Richard Cook: 1984
1984 was a great year—and not just for George Orwell lovers, or for me as I embarked on my medical education. Daley Thompson won his second Olympic gold medal in […]
Tony Waterston: Chemical weapons and the health response in Palestine
The man on the flagpole in Arafat Square was no nearer the top (see previous blog) and the mood in relation to peace talks is not hopeful. But the MA […]
Desmond O’Neill: Clinical glasshouses and stones
One of the positive aspects of working in smaller hospitals in Ireland is the professional mingling that takes place in local clinical societies. Living and working in a smaller pond […]
Anna Smajdor: Should we incentivise compassion in the NHS?
In response to the details of catastrophic failures in Mid Staffordshire NHS trust, David Cameron recently suggested that nurses’ pay should be dependent on their compassion. The idea that we […]
Paul Glasziou: Of parachutes, nasal peas, and RCTs
Deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease is a remarkable therapy. Over lunch a colleague recently described how it transformed her life: from slow shaky dysfunctional movement to almost normal. It […]
Saleyha Ahsan: No child is safe in Syria today
Away from my comfort zone working as an emergency medicine doctor in London, I have been working in a hospital in northern Syria with the charity Hand in Hand for […]
Kavin Andi: Pioneering the use of 3-D computer imagery to rebuild patients’ faces
Some of us are driven by personal conviction about our career choice while others succumb to the subtle and not to subtle influence of peer pressure or well meaning parents. […]
Richard Smith: “I’m the minister of health in a poor country”
I’m the minister of health in a poor country. Until last year I was a urologist. I was the president’s urologist and took out his prostate. To be honest, I […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—30 September 2013
NEJM 26 Sep 2013 Vol 369 1195 Gosh, I feel vulnerable. The opening paper in this week’s New England Journal is about sources of C difficile infection in “healthcare settings […]