US healthcare costs are unsustainable and a large amount of money is being wasted on unnecessary treatment. There was general agreement about these statements among the audience, speakers and panelists […]
Month: May 2012
Carl Heneghan and Deborah Cohen on PiP breast implants: implants need rigorous and transparent assessment of the evidence in future
A Department of Health review into the Poly Implant Prothèse (PiP) breast implant scandal has found that although the UK regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), acted […]
Florian Sparr on strengthening the global R&D system: innovation for health needs in developing countries
On Friday 4 May 2012 “Strengthening the Global R&D System: Innovation for Health Needs in Developing Countries” took place in Geneva. The keynote address, “Investing in Global Public Goods” was given by Joseph […]
Richard Smith: Will economic problems finally fix London healthcare?
There were no dissenters from the view at last week’s Cambridge Health Network meeting that London has chronic overcapacity in its acute hospitals. It’s been the case for decades. One […]
Deborah Cohen on Nestlé and the International Diabetes Federation: comfortable bedfellows?
Nestlé has just announced a three year partnership with the International Diabetes Federation (IDF)—an umbrella organisation representing national diabetes societies from around the world— as part of its contribution to […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review – 14 May 2012
JAMA 9 May 2012 Vol 307 1925 In a wonderful letter to Humphry Davy in 1800, Coleridge declared that science, as a human activity, “being necessarily performed with the Passion […]
Jeremy Sare: Drug driving in the Queen’s Speech
Enforcing the law on drug driving has not been a problem historically of either political will, or policing priorities. The main issue has always been applying the science and technology […]
Kelley Swain reviews Leonardo da Vinci: anatomist
In 1512, Leonardo da Vinci set out to clarify the function of a specific, bulbous part of the heart. He injected molten wax into an ox heart to make a […]
Domhnall Macauley: A tongue in cheek letter to consultant colleagues
Dear consultant colleague, The standard of consultant letters is very variable so we have decided to introduce a new proforma for consultant letters to GPs. Patients attend many different outpatient […]
Andrew Moscrop: Nutrition and gender in Pakistan
Into the Kuchlak nutrition clinic shuffles a pale blue burqa. From within the sky-coloured folds of fabric, the Pashtu woman pulls a tightly swaddled infant. Her son is eleven months […]