“Doctors should never be punished for following their professional duty of providing care without discrimination.” So concludes a letter we’ve just published that condemns Turkey’s government for passing legislation that directly conflicts with the fundamental ethical principle of medical neutrality. The law restricts healthcare professionals’ treatment of injured protestors, and has been viewed as a […]
Category: US healthcare
Richard Lehman’s journal review—10 March 2014
NEJM 6 Mar 2014 Vol 370 901 The cat and mouse game of man versus human immunodeficiency virus has just taken a new turn. HIV kills off CD4 T cells by binding to the CCR5 receptor. Now if you could manufacture CD4 T cells without a functioning CCR5 receptor, the virus would not be able […]
The BMJ Today: Wikipedia, childbirth, and statins
Would you ever cite Wikipedia as a source of academic information? An increasing number of people are, according to this study by M Dylan Bould and colleagues. But it is to be avoided says, Lane Rasberry, a Wikipedian in residence. Wikipedia should be used as a summary of primary and secondary sources, and the original […]
William Cayley: Muddling “margin” and “mission.”
“There is mission without margin.” I’ve heard that sentiment time and time again, used to convey the idea that in the healthcare business, while we all agree we want to take care of people, we must after all, stay financially viable in order to do so. In short, if we don’t succeed as a business, […]
The BMJ Today: Insurance and inequalities
How can health inequities be tackled when their causes lie beyond the control of the health sector or even national governments? This was the question that a report by the Lancet-University of Oslo Commission on Global Governance for Health sought to answer and that Guddi Vijaya Rani Singh scrutinises in her blog. “We must be careful […]
Tiago Villanueva: Medical education and healthcare in the Philippines
My Filipino roots and family ties usually take me to the Philippines once a year, but this year my trip was unusual as I had the chance to make contact with the local healthcare and medical education system. This was all unplanned as a relative has been receiving hospital treatment and I ended up visiting […]
The BMJ Today: HPV vaccine, chemotherapy, and psychiatry in the Gaza strip
Another evidence booster for the quadrivalent vaccine today. Controlled clinical studies have shown it almost completely prevents high grade cervical abnormalities, and now a BMJ paper has confirmed that even in the messy, real world it confers a risk reduction of 46% for these, and also of 34% for other cervical abnormalities. Whilst this is […]
The BMJ Today: The Super Bowl doctor, The BMJ Awards, and gluten free diets
Could you cope with dehydration, hypothermia, and the Madden rule? Jonathan Drezner, team physician for the Seattle Seahawks, talks about this year’s Super Bowl and what it takes to become a primary care sports physician. […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—3 March 2014
NEJM 27 Feb 2014 Vol 370 799 I’ve reached the age when people look back and sigh and cluck about the way the world has changed since they were children. In the 1950s, the world was actually a pretty nasty place, and at any moment the hydrogen bomb might bring it to an end. People […]
Colin Brewer: Is addiction a disease?
Last November, The Spectator held a debate on the proposition that drug addiction is not a disease. Former BMJ columnist Theodore Dalrymple was one of the proposers (I was invited to join him but couldn’t be there), and the motion was carried by a substantial majority. Apart from telling us what many ordinary people think […]