The incident happened at the Théâtre des Grands Danseurs du Roi, commonly known as the Nicolete Theatre in Paris, in September 1784. Alexandre Dumas recounts it in his Mémoires. [1] General Dumas, […]
Guest writers
Anna Charles: This is not the right time for a wholesale NHS reorganisation
You might expect, in the midst of a global pandemic, that unpicking the inner workings of the organisations that run and oversee the national health service would be far from […]
Managing uncertainty in the covid-19 era
The authors argue that uncertainty is inevitable in pandemics and offer some simple rules for better decision making in such circumstances […]
David Rowland: Some financial conflicts of interest in medicine cannot be managed and should be prohibited
The Cumberlege review into independent medicines and medical devices safety reminds us once again of the damaging impact of financial conflicts of interest on patients. The review’s analysis of the […]
We know enough about the problems in research to start demanding solutions
Several problems with health research are now widely recognised. But to challenge the status quo we need to offer clear solutions and convince patients, the public, and policy makers to […]
Testing times: An ethical framework for swab testing of NHS workers for covid-19
The covid-19 pandemic has brought many ethical questions into the spotlight. How should scarce resources—such as ventilators—be allocated? Should cardiopulmonary resuscitation be attempted after hospital admission with the virus? How […]
Covid-19: The Academy of Medical Sciences has produced a useful report, but it’s no substitute for a rapid review of UK preparedness
The report should be fed into a wider-ranging, but rapid, transparent, review of the UK’s covid-19 preparedness […]
We can and should learn from other countries taking steps to protect their doctors
The global pandemic has placed a massive strain on healthcare provision across the planet. As it progressed in the UK, resource shortages soon emerged, including lack of personal protective equipment […]
Mary Brindle: War and peace with covid-19
Metaphors of war were often rolled out as countries geared up for an initial wave of covid-19, but what analogies could be useful to us now as we adjust to […]
Karen E Lasser: Covid-19 and “living for the needs of the day”
In early May 2020, six weeks after the novel coronavirus had made its way to Boston, I was preparing for my first shift at Boston Medical Center’s “influenza-like illness” (ILI) […]