The English suffix -pathy comes from the Greek -παθεια. Vary the prefix, vary the feeling: ἀντιπάθεια – suffering instead, contrary affection, aversion (ἀντί = opposite, against); εὐπάθεια – ease, sensitivity to impressions; in the plural, luxuries (εὐ = well, thoroughly); περιπάθεια – violent passion, indignation (περί = around, near, concerning, beyond); προπάθεια –anticipation; in the […]
Category: Columnists
Richard Smith: What should a patient ask before entering a clinical trial?
“What,” a Finnish journalist asks me, “should a patient ask before entering a clinical trial?” That’s a good question, I think, as on my feet I try to answer the question. So here’s an attempt at an answer. She asked me the question because I’d been saying that much that is published in medical journals […]
Iain Chalmers: Should the Cochrane logo be accompanied by a health warning?
The birth of the Cochrane logo Twenty four summers ago I asked David Mostyn to design a logo to illustrate the objectives of the soon-to-be-opened Cochrane Centre. He did a good job: the circle reflects global objectives and international collaboration; the mirror image “Cs” stood for the Cochrane Centre (and, a year later, the Cochrane […]
Richard Smith: Can the NHS ever manage to analyse data to improve patient care?
In order to improve patient outcomes the NHS badly needs to collect data on all that is happening, analyse it intelligently, and present the information to clinicians and managers in an understandable and actionable form. That was the central message from Keith McNeil, who recently became chief clinical information officer health and social care for […]
Sian M Griffiths: How to implement handwashing with soap in schools
11 March 2016 was an important day for global public health. It was the day the UN adopted a hygiene indicator as part of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6–the goal that covers the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, and which will guide funding and policy in this area for the […]
William Cayley: Numerical minimal change disease
What difference makes a difference? We often encourage patients to make small behavioral changes, in the hope that even one step in the right direction is at least small progress. However, when it comes to medical care, and testing in particular, I think we forget that some changes are not really changes at all. As […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . A word about empathy
Empathy is becoming a 21st century biomedical fashion, judging by the number of papers on the subject (figure). But the concept is not new. The word is first recorded in English in the Philosophical Review in 1895, in a summary by E L Hinman of a paper by Kurd Lasswitz, a Kantean philosopher and science […]
Tiago Villanueva: Family medicine and private health insurance in Portugal
I read with interest some recent articles about the interplay between private healthcare insurance and state provided healthcare. [1][2][3] A substantial proportion of the population has private health insurance in Portugal, where I work as a GP. Funding cuts and raised co-payments because of the financial crisis have decreased the appeal of public healthcare, prompting […]
Richard Smith: Is flexible working good or bad for health?
Australia, like Britain, pushed hard for more flexible working in the labour market in the 80s, and all political parties and trade unions supported it because they assumed that it would both boost productivity and give workers more control of their lives. More control, it was thought, would improve health. But is more flexible working […]
Nicholas S Hopkinson reviews “The state of medicine”
“I am furious, sad, and scared for the NHS” —Margaret McCartney’s opening words in the introduction to her latest, timely book, The State of Medicine (Pinter and Martin 2016). Understandable sentiments, as the NHS heads for £20 billion/year underfunding by 2020 and politicians can launch thinly veiled xenophobic attacks on our colleagues born overseas. McCartney’s writing […]