When we get through covid-19, and rest assured we will, these Intensive Care Unit (ICU) doctors, will march lockstep with others and argue for more beds, staff, and kit. We […]
Columnists
Seamus O’Mahony: Mourning our dead in the covid pandemic
I came back to Ireland in 2001, after working for fourteen years in the NHS. I had underestimated the re-acclimatisation involved in this move. The most striking cultural difference between […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . Logarithmic exponents
There is widespread misunderstanding about the meaning of the mathematical idea of “exponential”. Here are some synonyms listed on a website called WordHippo: aggressive, epidemic, ascending, augmented, expanding, growing, mounting, […]
Daniel Sokol: Can non-specialty doctors on covid wards still be sued?
Doctors should be aware of the boundaries of their competence and not feel pressured to cross them, says Daniel Sokol […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . Modelling elections and covid-19
Last week I introduced the basic and effective reproduction numbers, respectively R0 and Re, that are estimated in studying the way a viral epidemic spreads through the population. The basic […]
Daniel Sokol: Where are the ICU triage protocols?
It is no secret that intensive care unit (ICU) capacity may be overwhelmed if the pandemic worsens. Why then is there so little published guidance on ICU triage from the […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . Modelling viral reproduction
Here’s an extract from a recent newspaper report: “The key aim of social distancing is to get this figure below one, at which point the outbreak would begin to peter […]
Richard Smith: Covid-19—an oblique view on who shall live and who shall die
The day before Boris Johnson announced a lockdown (or cloistering, as I prefer to call it), I sat in a theatre in Tonbridge and watched my brother, Nicholas, playing a […]
Peter Brindley: Covid-19—Healthcare workers are scared but, in some ways, also lucky
For over 70 years my lucky corner of this lovely planet has enjoyed relative peace and prosperity. Despite this, we healthcare workers have rarely missed any opportunity to offer military […]
Martin McKee: Words have consequences, especially during a pandemic
Politicians must avoid saying things that stir up hatred of others, says Martin McKee […]