What should you give doctors when they graduate? An expensive stethoscope, a Ferrari, a lifetime subscription to The BMJ, a ticket to India, or a pet canary? The answer of […]
Richard Smith
Richard Smith was the editor of The BMJ until 2004.
Richard Smith: Where is the value in medical care?
We have an old dog we love, and my wife and I have been debating whether to take him to the vet. Will it be worth it, asks my wife. The […]
Richard Smith: Rebranding and telling stories about NCD
I was delighted to be asked to organise this series of events on non-communicable diseases, but I had a problem—I had no idea what NCDs are or were. So Kate […]
Richard Smith: The polypill reaches the plateau of productivity
“I’m outraged,” said Robert Beaglehole, former director at WHO responsible for non communicable disease, at the end of the second polypill summit in Melbourne recently. He’s outraged because the world […]
Richard Smith: Talking eugenics in Germany
The other day I heard a wildly optimistic account of how our understanding of genetics would allow us to eradicate many diseases, potentially create better people, and reduce health costs. […]
Richard Smith: Why doesn’t the obvious happen?
It’s obvious to me that all scientific research should be available free to everybody everywhere, the polypill to prevent heart attacks and strokes should be offered to all those over […]
Richard Smith: Do sexual abuse of children and research misconduct have something in common?
Every so often I hear stories of people prominent in medical research who are suspected of research misconduct—or research fraud, as it was once more bluntly called. Could the stories […]
Richard Smith: Rediscovering a BMJ gem
After a class I taught recently one of the students came up to me and said, “My mother was fond of you. Her name was Clare Vaughan.” I remembered. I […]
Richard Smith: What will robots do when they take us over?
Lord Rees, the Astronomer Royal and former president of the Royal Society, believes that robots might replace human beings within 50-60 years. Looking at writings from him on the web, […]
Richard Smith: The history of surgery—my contribution
In his book “Adolf Hitler: my part in his downfall,” Spike Milligan modestly suggested that his part had been small. My contribution to the history of surgery is even smaller […]