Writers of the open letter to America in defence of the NHS rebut clearly and concisely some of the more ludicrous charges leveled against our system of healthcare. It’s a debate […]
Guest writers
Olivia Roberts: More tales from the UN number-crunchers
Quick follow on from the last blog post on the wonderful world of UN statistics. This time the Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (IGME) has ploughed through country data. […]
Louise Kenny: On-call in Guatemala
I thought I might be broken in gently to the new job, but I arrived last Friday in Santiago, and was thrown into a 24hr on-call in the ER on […]
Richard Smith: Remember “the disappeared”
The most interesting, and certainly the most chilling, experience I had in four days in Buenos Aires was to visit the memorial to “the disappeared.” […]
Vidhya Alakeson on President Obama’s healthcare speech
It is a peculiar trait of American politics: long presidential speeches broadcast at prime time. Just as Bill Clinton did thirteen years ago, yesterday, for an hour, President Obama tried […]
Síle Lane on keeping libel laws out of science
Good science depends on open, critical discussion. Where medical science is concerned, if doctors didn’t voice reservations and medical publishers don’t air disputes, many people might think them irresponsible. But […]
Tracey Koehlmoos: How zinc can save 400,000 lives annually
In the August 17th issue of Time magazine, there was an article that discussed the introduction of zinc as a treatment for childhood diarrhoea in Mali. The article has raised […]
Richard Smith: A crime against knowledge
Firsthand personal experience of a great crime can make it real in a way that full intellectual understanding will not. Spend two hours in close contact with an African AIDS […]
Helen Carnaghan: ENT is like a lady’s handbag – you never know what you might find!
I am now working in the department of ear, nose and throat (ENT) and I have come across my all time favourite medical saying: “A thyroid is like a lady’s […]
Louise Kenny: Two men down and a ’99 flake
I’ve spent the last week relaxing in Antigua, Guatemala, hauling myself through 6 hours of Spanish lessons a day in a last minute attempt to quell the panic before I […]