A day in the life of a Chilean family doctor She wipes her eyes with the backs of her hands. A thin circle of white skin against the dark tan of her left ring finger is the only visible sign of her recent loss. She sits in the ‘sala de espera’. Esperar, in Spanish, means […]
Category: US healthcare
Domhnall MacAuley: Good news on UK primary care
Overwhelmed by the relentless tide of bad news stories about UK primary care? Well, this is a good news story. A webinar organised by The Commonwealth Fund (a US philanthropic organisation originally created by the Harkness Family to identify policies and practice that could improve the US health system) discussed findings from the latest International […]
Suchita Shah: Health as a gateway to global development
A week ago, I was writing about rights—in this particular instance, the right to safe water, having personally experienced the city of Santiago without water during my stay in Chile. It seemed to me, as the city waited for water companies, and not hospitals, to oblige, that many solutions to fundamental public health problems lie […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—4 February 2013
JAMA Intern Med 28 Jan 2013 Vol 173 93 One of the chief glories of this journal (formerly called the Archives) lies in the articles labelled LESS IS MORE, which can range from editorials to original research papers, and this issue contains no fewer than four such. The US health economy contains massive incentives to […]
Readers’ editor: What do US physicians think of the BMJ?
This blog is the first in a series about you, our readers. Fiona Godlee, the BMJ’s editor in chief, suggested I write a regular blog explaining some of our policies and procedures. Many of them have been in place for decades, but our readership of practising physicians and academic researchers may not be aware of […]
Krishna Chinthapalli: The danger of sugar
Millions of years ago, plants were making fruits to disperse seeds. Once the seeds were ready to travel in animal stomachs, fruits concentrated more sugar and ripened. They became an important and safe source of energy. Consequently, our ancestors perceived fruit to be “sweet” and pleasurable. Meanwhile bees were busy making a much sweeter food, […]
Desmond O’Neill: A grave beauty
When visiting a city for the first time, graveyards rarely feature high on my agenda. So, little did I suspect that a very beautiful graveyard would be one of the aesthetic highlights of a recent short stay in Portland, Maine, a compact and attractive port city with interesting French influences. My host, the founder of […]
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 disability. The data tells a familiar story. Where infection and malnutrition related illnesses were once the primary causes of death, these have now been replaced […]
Desmond O’Neill: Think global, act local
Visiting Kennebunkport, Maine, in winter is a surreal experience, almost akin to playing an extra in the Truman Show. Neat clapper board houses and snow encrusted churches cluster around a serpiginous and sylvan sea inlet. In the grocery cum café store locals cluster over coffee and cinnamon buns amid the general supplies in an ambience […]
Krishna Chinthapalli on the questions around gun control in the US
It is the 13th leading cause of death, between liver cirrhosis and renal failure. There are more and more frequent outbreaks—a record seven in 2012 with over 140 deaths. The agent responsible is known, and has largely been eradicated in many other developed countries. But in the USA, federal money is not used to investigate […]