The pandemic was not what we expected. A new respiratory virus had been identified and the WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern. Predictions of possible mortality rates […]
Month: March 2021
Long covid—looking across data, diseases, and disciplines
By the summer of 2020, I had seen several patients in clinic with ongoing cardiac issues after SARS-CoV-2 infection, from arrhythmias to myocarditis. The term “long covid” was coined on […]
Structural racism is a fundamental cause and driver of ethnic disparities in health
The UK government report on race disparities is a missed opportunity and will lead to a worsening of systemic inequalities, say these authors […]
Vaccinated, yet still clinically extremely vulnerable
Safety concerns have arisen again for healthcare workers who have been shielding during the covid-19 pandemic. Shielding guidance for clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) individuals in England will pause tomorrow (31 […]
The challenge of keeping hospitals safe in the era of covid
During the first wave of the pandemic, patient facing healthcare workers and their families were statistically more likely to be admitted to hospital with covid-19 than non-patient facing staff or […]
Simon Hodes: If done well, DNACPR decisions play an essential part in making end-of-life care good
To date there have been nearly 150,000 deaths in the UK with covid-19 listed on the death certificate. We have all been touched with the loss of a loved one […]
Driven by good intentions: why widening the diagnostic criteria for polycystic ovary syndrome may be harming women
The 2018 International Guidelines for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) were intended to standardise diagnosis and improve care, but they also endorsed the controversial Rotterdam diagnostic criteria. These include a larger […]
Covid-19 vaccine passports and vaccine hesitancy: freedom or control?
Recent debates around “vaccine passports,” or formal/mandatory certification of vaccination, point towards a potential widening societal divide between those who are vaccinated and those who are not. Those with certification […]
Covid-19 vaccine passports will harm sustainable development
Vaccine passports create a structural barrier to sustainable development, benefiting only the few at the expense of so many, say these authors […]
The F word—talking about failure in medicine
The F-word is a taboo within medicine that causes shock among medical students and doctors—and we are not talking about the profanity here, but instead the word “failure.” Institutionally, medical schools […]