My consulting room is full of ghosts. Shadowy figures whose tears or trauma hover over the patient’s chair. The room has a memory and sometimes shares its thoughts. A word […]
Editors at large
Edward Davies: The health bill: no trust and no U-turns
Last week marked a “humiliating climbdown” for the Health Secretary. Apparently. “Andrew Lansley is now in open retreat and is being forced to cave in on issues he previously fought […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Floundering in the deep end – reflections on the RCGP conference
The deep end. Floundering, treading water, trying to avoid drowning in the multiple morbidity, clinical complexity, and long, detailed, and difficult consultations in areas of deprivation. At the shallow end, […]
Harriet Vickers: Psychiatry to save the world: Lars von Trier’s Melancholia
Lars von Trier has made no secret of the fact he’s suffered from depression. At the beginning of 1997 he was hospitalised with the condition, saying it left him incapacitated […]
Domhnall MacAuley: The high metal fences at work
There are high metal fences around both my places of work, at the BMJ, there is a lovely commemorative ornamental railing. At our surgery, a security barrier. Two places far […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Wet October Tuesday morning
Wet Tuesday. October. General practice. Year 28, day 11. Radio news. Car park. Medical bag. Waiting room- half full. Hi all. Open surgery. Password. Mouse. Press. Wait. Headache, blood pressure, […]
David Payne: Best death scenes in literature
Our 19th century ancestors were no strangers to death. So why were they so terrible at writing about it? At a Cheltenham Literary Festival panel discussion on death scenes in literature, […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Medicine, marriage, and a bright future
There were enough doctors to run a medium sized hospital. Doctors in training in almost every specialty- I could identify those in paediatrics, obstetrics, cancer care, and ophthalmology, but most […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Doctors in this week’s sports headlines
Caught in a spat between a multi million pound footballer and a multi billion pound football club. Bet they didn’t warn him about that in medical school. Owen Hargreaves said […]
David Payne: Happy 13th birthday, (scary) Google
In Washington DC last week Google CEO Eric Schmidt defended the company’s business practices when he appeared before a Senate antitrust panel. Down the road at Georgetown University the following […]