It has been a very long, unforgiving winter. Although the Welsh daffodils outside of the window are blooming, hospital beds around the country remain full to the brim with patients […]
Columnists
Peter Brindley and Matt Morgan: Advice to medical school applicants—be average
Why we shouldn’t be afraid to admit to failure […]
Julian Sheather: Reviewing the Mental Health Act—we need to talk about autonomy
The Government is reviewing mental health legislation for England—the 1983 Act and its bolt-ons. From an ethics’ perspective, front and centre is the issue of autonomy: the decision-making rights of […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Guidelines
Last week I discussed Austin Bradford Hill’s 1965 lecture, “The Environment and Disease: Association or Causation?”, in which he outlined what he called “nine viewpoints” that he suggested could help […]
Richard Smith: The dangers of textbooks
Recently published research has found that about half of the authors of Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine, which is nothing short of a Bible in medicine, have received payments from […]
Neena Modi: A bigger vision for child health
The benefits of health in fetal life, infancy, and childhood extend well beyond these periods, influencing adult wellbeing, population health, and national prosperity […]
Krishna Chinthapalli: What Stephen Hawking taught us about determination to live and succeed
Stephen Hawking transcended astrophysics and physical disability to become the most famous scientist in the last half-century. Aside from his research output on black holes and cosmology, he received numerous […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . Criteria
In 1965 Sir Austin (“Tony”) Bradford Hill, professor emeritus of medical statistics in the University of London, gave a lecture to the Royal Society of Medicine’s newly formed Section of […]
Richard Smith: “This house needs new drugs”—no it doesn’t
Last week I took part in a debate at the Cambridge Union on the motion “This house needs new drugs.” The motion was proposed by the chief executive of AstraZeneca, […]
Matt Morgan and Peter Brindley: Medicine in the “Age of Anger”
Matt Morgan and Peter Brindley encourage us to take a deep breath […]