To be a “guinea pig” in a clinical trial is not an experience people volunteer for lightly. We need only think of the dramatic side-effects of the so-called Elephant Man drug trial at Northwick Park in 2006 to be reminded that volunteers can end up worse off. In that case, there was financial reward for […]
Continue Reading →The increasing advice about swine flu
To have a baby or not? The National Childbirth Trust, a hardworking parenting charity, have been criticised for offering advice (now withdrawn) that women may wish to delay pregnancy until the swine flu pandemic is over. Various other agencies, including the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Department of Health, were quick to respond by saying […]
Continue Reading →Affording the professions
The Fair Access to the Professions report is just out. The bottom line is that there are not many students studying medicine or law from lower social classes. According to the British Medical Association, just 4 per cent of medical students are from lower social classes. I for one am not convinced that it therefore all […]
Continue Reading →High and dry: column
What do you do for a living? I confess that, when asked this question, I have lied many times. At parties, at gyms and at dinners, I’ve been reluctant to talk about being a doctor, often for the sake of whoever I’m with, as I invariably start moaning about NHS politics. The question of whether […]
Continue Reading →All at sea: column
This column likes evidence-based medicine. It is impossible to defend anything else: to pretend there is no need for evidence – or to ignore it – means ignoring the duty to ensure patients get the best possible care. It would be nice to think that medical research has now got its act together, after many […]
Continue Reading →Health and holiday housekeeping
I’m taking a couple of weeks off the blog to hide from the heat, the lack of which I usually complain about. In the meantime, two thought-provoking treats: an excellent article on cancer screening – It is not wrong to say no – from Dr Iona Heath, who is the new president of the Royal College of […]
Continue Reading →Baby Talk: column
Labour has a reputation for being painful. Personally, I like pain relief and avoiding complications, so I chose to give birth in what I thought were the safer environs of the hospital. But in hospitals, medical staff may be rather too close to hand, and this can mean a higher risk of medical intervention without, […]
Continue Reading →One size fits all: column
Wonder drugs are rare. Applying the criteria of effectiveness, usefulness and cost, I’d put paracetamol, morphine and penicillin high on my list. The number one position, however, would go to aspirin. Not only is it good for pain relief, as an anti-inflammatory and to reduce fever, it also works as a blood-thinning agent, to decrease […]
Continue Reading →Health alert on the lure of cancer screening
A rather disappointing debate recorded in Hansard on the subject of screening for cancer in men. Unfortunately the extremely important issues of effectiveness, evidence, and potential harms seem to have become lost, e.g. “the government is committed to introducing screening for prostate cancer” – but since the evidence is mixed but much of it shows that it does more harm than […]
Continue Reading →Health choices: and smoking in psychiatric hospitals
An interesting survey has been published by the Foundation for Mental Health. It’s called “Death of the smoking den, The initial impact of no smoking legislation in psychiatric units in England in 2008.” In the introduction to the report, Louis Appleby, the National Director for Mental Health is quoted as having said in 2007 “The rest of […]
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