Today marks the one year anniversary since Ebola was confirmed in Sierra Leone. It is not a happy one year anniversary, but there is hope. Thankfully the numbers have significantly reduced […]
Month: May 2015
The BMJ Today: How do editors make decisions?
• How do editors make decisions? How can we improve editorial practices and the quality of biomedical publications while promoting greater transparency and trust in the system? These are some […]
David Gilbert: Patient as expert
During my psychiatric years, I could only dream of being an equal to health professionals. These days therefore, to be valued as an “expert” is seductive. But we have to […]
Gillian MacDougall: Why I support a change in the law on assisted suicide
I have been a supporter of legalising assisted dying since the late Margo MacDonald first proposed a change of the law in Scotland in 2010. When the revised bill (Assisted […]
The BMJ Today: Healthy behaviours and the power of the WHO
• Campaigners are taking the Dutch state to court over links with the tobacco industry, which is allegedly unlawfully influencing policies on the availability of tobacco products. The fight is […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—26 May 2015
NEJM 21 May 2015 Vol 372 2064 The NEJM has the highest reputation of any medical journal, so it’s impossible not to feel dismay when it lets its standards slip […]
Ian Barker: Why we should all move to an opt-out system for organ donation
On 1 December 2015, Wales will be the first country in the UK to introduce an opt-out system for organ donation. This means that patients will need to actively opt […]
David Wrigley: A seven day NHS? My seven point plan for Mr Cameron & Mr Hunt
The media have called this the “first major speech” in this brand new Conservative majority government. Prime Minister David Cameron, with five years of power ahead of him, decided to […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . The X factor
There are symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) that do not represent the sounds of letters they look like. Among these is the grapheme /x/, which does not represent […]
The BMJ Today: Crisis and corruption
• Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the BMA’s general practitioners committee, urges UK health ministers to halt a “surreal obsession” with seven day working at a time when the GP workforce is […]