I headed to the Hunterian Museum in London to see the UK premiere of a film about donating bodies to medical science. It was raining, no red carpets were to be seen, and rather than thin people in high fashion, the only skeletal creatures on show really were skeletons. I wasn’t expecting a great evening, […]
Category: Editors at large
Juliet Dobson on eating animals
On Wednesday night at the London School of Economics, US novelist Jonathan Safran Foer took part in a discussion about his latest book, Eating Animals, as part of the Forum for European Philosophy. The book, a departure from his previous two novels, is part memoir, part exposé. He writes about his struggle with vegetarianism and explores […]
Elizabeth Loder on making publication ethics matter to authors
These are heady times for the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). Its membership has broadened considerably in recent years. It now boasts over 6000 member journals and is no longer mainly biomedical. The attendance roster for the second US COPE seminar, held in late November in Washington, D.C., reflected this diversity. It listed editors from […]
Tessa Richards: Patients as cost savers?
Might patients hold the key to putting the brake on spiralling healthcare costs? If you had asked me that question a few days ago I’d have said no. We all know about the problem of spiralling demand for healthcare and rising patients’ expectations. But after participating in the Salzburg Global Seminar, where the thesis that” […]
Helen Macdonald: Light reading over the festive season for the e-portfolio
I was considering what I might learn (if anything) over the Christmas period on a chilly cycle home last night. It has been an intermittent and nagging thought for some weeks. Most of my non-doctor friends would find the idea of Christmas learning ridiculous. But the end of my genitourinary medicine placement looms. There are […]
Trish Groves: IDEAL innovation in surgery
No two operations are the same, not least because the surgeon starts each new one with some additional experience and knowledge gained during the previous one. But what counts as innovation in surgery, and how should it be appraised and regulated? […]
Tony Delamothe: Illustrating the Christmas issue
Articles almost select themselves for the Christmas issue. The ones with any chance of publication get externally peer reviewed, and the survivors get discussed by our five person editorial committee. Our hope is that the cream finds its way to the top. […]
Harriet Vickers on assisted dying in the theatre: A review of Bea
Assisted death is a very visible issue right now. As parliaments struggle with the dilemma about whether or not to legalise helping someone to die, more and more individuals are stepping into the public spotlight to describe or explore the issue. Terry Pratchett, in his Dimbleby lecture, and John Zaritsky, with his film A right to […]
Domhnall MacAuley: primary care in Brazil
Five of his pregnant patients were dead. Three murdered by drug dealers when they couldn’t pay their bills and two killed by the police. A very different maternal mortality in frontline general practice. Marcello Garcia Kolling, a GP in Curitiba, and president of the 2º Congresso Sul Brasileiro de Medicina de Família e Comunidade, estimates […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Martin Roland in Belfast
Like it or loathe it, practice will never be the same. Constant data audit, screen reminders, and intrusive disease monitoring protocols have, undoubtedly, altered the consultation but, the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) has, I believe, improved my clinical care. At a recent meeting at the Centre of Excellence for Public Health, Northern Ireland, Martin […]