Even in the most auspicious weather conditions, urgent home visits are time consuming and on days when snow falls this creates another obstacle to negotiate in an already stressful on-call […]
Latest articles
Christopher Exeter on the Global Burden of Disease study
Mid December saw the launch of the decennial Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study at the Royal Society in London. The study is the global rating of mortality, morbidity, and […]
Suchita Shah: Everywhere, but not a drop to drink: water shortage in Santiago, Chile
“Water is another matter, has no direction but its own bright grace” [from “Water” by Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet]. I turn on the kitchen tap but no water flows. Surprised, […]
Amir Attaran and Marvin Shepherd: Denialism and India’s risky medicine
Governments that lie are dangerous to public health [1]. South Africa’s shameless denial that HIV causes AIDS delayed treatment for millions, and many needlessly died. Now India’s government is doing […]
Jeremy Sare: The cannabis reclassification saga began shortly after 9/11
Although it may seem initially bathetic to put these events together, David Blunkett’s appearance before the Home Affairs Select Committee in October 2001 actually set in motion a dozen years […]
Julian Sheather: Medicine, Strasbourg, and conscientious objection
The media made quite a fuss recently about the European Court of Human Rights finding that British Airways had unfairly discriminated against an employee, Mrs Eweida, in refusing to let […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Tranquiliser and analgesic dependence
“GPs warned to steer clear of tranquiliser trap,” Reading the headline—I expected the usual GP bashing. But, the headline misled and the story was based on a joint statement by […]
Richard Smith: A variation on the theme of the importance of publishing
I fully support the Alltrials campaign to see all clinical trials published, and I’m a signature to the letter of people who have participated in trials and are horrified that […]
Tracey Koehlmoos: Flu season in the US
To many people in the US, flu season is rather like world cup football is to the rest of us. Flu has been on the front page of many newspapers […]
Pritpal S Tamber: Why “paperless” is meaningless
The National Health Service (NHS) of England is enduring the enthusiasm of a new health secretary. As he gets to grips with his £110bn toy he is, as you’d expect, […]