“The economics of education are changed dramatically by delivering online courses to large numbers, making expensive education much cheaper.” That line in Richard Smith’s blog post describing a proposed “global […]
US healthcare
The BMJ Today: Childhood drowning outcomes—prevention is key
My Facebook feed was filled with complaints after the National Football League’s Superbowl broadcast last week. The target? A commercial from an insurer highlighting the importance of preventing childhood accidents. […]
Marika Davies: Doctors and death row—should doctors ever take part in executions?
The US Supreme court has put three executions in Oklahoma on hold while it considers a legal challenge to the state’s use of midazolam in its lethal injection protocol. This […]
Rahul K Parikh: Violence against doctors in the US
Late last month, Stephen Pasceri walked into a Boston hospital and asked someone to point him in the direction of his deceased mother’s surgeon, Dr Michael Davidson. When he found […]
Vincent Iacopino: Health professionals have no role in Saudi blogger’s flogging case
The disturbing case of a Saudi blogger sentenced to flogging should serve as a reminder that health professionals should never participate in torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. Raif […]
Stuart Buck: Sharing data from past clinical trials
There was a time when academic and government researchers performed experiments that were clearly unethical—such as letting syphilis go untreated, or asking people to administer severe electric shocks to each […]
Desmond O’Neill: Older drivers and medical fitness to drive
Does life really imitate art, or is it the other way round? Listening to an exhilarating live performance by the Philadelphia Orchestra of Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, the droll tone […]
Saurabh Jha: The overdiagnosed party/ the false positives rave
Consider this equation. Early Diagnosis = Early Diagnosis + Overdiagnosis (1.1) This sort of unequal algebra will fail GCSE mathematics. A new NHS initiative is arithmetic defying as well. Patients who […]
Richard Smith: Would you like to die at 75 or 150?
“Sex and death are the only things that can interest a serious mind,” said W B Yeats, so, although more of a flippant than a serious mind, I return to […]
William Cayley: “Enjoy in struggling”
“Struggling is the meaning of life. Victory and defeat are in the hands of God, so one must enjoy in struggling.” The saying above the doorway caught my attention as […]