Noel Conway, a terminally-ill man who wants to be helped to die, recently lost his legal challenge at the Court of Appeal. Conway, a 68 year old lecturer, dying from […]
Columnists
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Medical Japanese
A recent visit to Japan for the quadrennial meeting of IUPHAR, the International Union of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology, prompted me to reflect on Japanese words that have entered the […]
Richard Smith: The shambles of the NHS two week urgent appointment system
I have a lesion on my chest that could be a skin cancer, one of the slow growing non-lethal ones. I’ve had it for about two years and thought little […]
Richard Smith: I’ve got cancer
I couldn’t resist the dramatic title, although, as I’ll disclose below, a less dramatic one would more accurately reflect the content of this piece. Normally a title like “I’ve got […]
Nick Wilson and Matt Morgan: Is the “bench to bedside” broken?
Over recent decades, the UK has been a key innovator in medicine. The UK ranked 2nd overall between 1996-2017 in the number of medical publications (1,059,287). [1] The benefits of research […]
Julian Sheather: The effect of anti-terrorism legislation on the provision of healthcare globally
Anyone who reads a fair amount will know those lovely moments when one piece of writing arcs across to another. Synchronicity, happenstance, call it what you will. Recently a colleague […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Caves and diseases
The recent rescue of 12 Thai boys and their coach from an underground cave, two and a half miles and several hours from the surface, had the world enthralled. Having […]
Richard Smith: Is precision medicine a fantasy?
Was Richard Smith wrong to call precision medicine a fantasy? […]
Martin McKee: Decoding the Brexit white paper—what might it mean for health?
The government’s stated intention was to provide a degree of certainty, but in that it has failed […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Saintly medical specialties
From the earliest times religion has influenced medicine and vice versa. For example, if obeying a religious law compromises one’s health, the law may sometimes be broken. Jewish law dictates […]