We first meet Sam Weller (picture below) in Chapter X of The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, which was published serially between April 1836 and November 1837. “He was […]
Columnists
Richard Smith: Can we look forward to a healthier future?
I’m preparing for a BBC Radio 4 debate on whether we can look forward to a healthier future, and I’m cast as the pessimist who must argue that the future […]
William Cayley: It’s time for evidence based solutions rather than political healthcare agendas
America needs to set aside ideologically driven approaches to healthcare, argues William Cayley […]
Kieran Walsh: How to be an all star clinical teacher
There is a lot to remember when you are leading a ward round. There’s the patient, the relatives, the junior doctors, the nurses, the physiotherapist, the occupational therapist, the pharmacist, […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Gout
Richard Asher once commented, citing Pel Ebstein fever in Hodgkin’s disease as an example, that some clinical manifestations that are regarded as “typical” of certain diseases may be in fact […]
Richard Smith: Why has Bangladesh done so well?
How has Bangladesh been so successful in achieving MDGs and good health outcomes? Richard Smith discusses. […]
Sharon Roman: Notes from the less comfortable chair
As someone with chronic disease and comorbidity, I have benefitted from the knowledge and expertise of a great number of doctors. Sometimes you’ve only known me as an image on […]
Billy Boland: How do we become compassionate leaders?
An excessive focus on systems, policy, and performance without talking about the people involved can exclude, undermine, and disillusion those we want to bring about change in the NHS, says […]
Richard Smith: The ways in which hospitals can destroy health
Spending more and more on hospital care, means that you “crowd out” spending on other activities that do much for health, says Richard Smith. […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Fake illnesses
Fake news is in the news. So what about fake illnesses? When Richard Asher described “a common syndrome, which most doctors have seen, but about which little has been written”, […]