Most doctors encounter interesting or unusual patients whose amazing stories stay with them forever. I was fortunate to look after the world’s number one story teller, Roald Dahl, as his […]
Guest writers
Mathias Bonk: Who will become WHO’s new director general?
The nomination deadline for the next director general of the WHO has passed and six of WHO’s Member States have sent in nomination papers for their respective candidates. Three of […]
Matthew Honeyman: Saving paper, saving money, or transforming care?
Yesterday we published a briefing on the digital agenda that has been pursued by the NHS since 2013 – the year Secretary of State for health Jeremy Hunt challenged the NHS to […]
Tong Yongjun: Stop killing Chinese doctors
In less than three months four Chinese doctors have been killed by patients. In one case, a general physician’s 10 year-old child was also stabbed. Violence towards doctors is nothing […]
Pradip Kharya: Delhi’s chikungunya outbreak
In 2006 India experienced one of its worse chikungunya outbreaks, when more than 1.5m cases were reported. The current outbreak in Delhi has claimed at least 15 lives so far, and the city’s […]
David Shaw: Delaying surgery for obese and smoking patients is illogical and unethical
It was recently reported that Vale of York clinical commissioning group (CCG) plans to delay all elective surgery for obese patients for a year until they lose 10% of their […]
Arthy Santhakumar: The verdict is out on superbugs
A global health peril that demands global action. For only the fourth time in history, a health issue has reached the great political heights of the United Nations General Assembly. […]
Peter White et al: Releasing patient data from the PACE trial for chronic fatigue syndrome
The PACE trial was the largest clinical trial to date into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), also sometimes referred to as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). This randomised controlled trial involved 641 UK […]
Simon McGrath: PACE trial shows why medicine needs patients to scrutinise studies about their health
Like all patients, what I want most from clinical research is treatments that work, not ones that merely look good on paper. As The BMJ has pointed out, patients are […]
Ian R Barker: Compassion fatigue—the neglected problem
Compassion fatigue—also known as vicarious traumatisation results in a gradual reduction in compassion over time. It is more common in those dealing with trauma or caring for close relatives (1). […]