Being impersonated by Peter Cook must be an honour held by few doctors, aside perhaps from Cook’s Beyond the Fringe colleague Jonathan Miller, who trained as a neuropathologist. Similarly, having an Obituary in The BMJ written by an award winning novelist and historian is not an everyday occurrence. Somewhat in contrast to these elevated celebrations, […]
Sean Roche: Resistance—what society needs to learn from the microbes
The first week in July saw extensive media coverage of the looming specter of microbial antibiotic resistance. The basic problem: Big Pharma isn’t developing new antibiotics. We look on, seemingly helpless, in the face of ever evolving strains of dangerous, resistant “superbugs.” The logic of this scenario is familiar, and mirrors perfectly our apparent helplessness […]
William Cayley: Awkward is when they need us
“I just hate this sort of thing.” When I overheard that at a recent funeral, as we waited in line to greet the bereaved family, I thought to myself, “How sad . . . and how true.” Sad, because times of grief are when others need us most, but also true, because most of us find […]
The BMJ Today: Alzheimer’s disease and the creation of news
Today’s UK national media are full of stories about a possible blood test that might predict progression to Alzheimer’s disease. “Blood test to give early warning of Alzheimer’s,” says the front page of the Times. “Blood test to predict Alzheimer’s could help stall dementia,” says the Daily Telegraph. “New blood test ‘paves way for drugs […]
Robin Kincaid: Surgical skills in Palestine—handing over the baton
In April this year, the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) team travelled to East Jerusalem to oversee the teaching of the Basic Surgical Skills (BSS) course, which has been endorsed by the Edinburgh college for Palestinian surgeons in training. The idea for this project grew its roots back in early 2010, and the scheme is […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—7 July 2014
NEJM 3 July 2014 Vol 371 11 I don’t envy anyone with central lumbar spinal stenosis. The odds of benefit from surgery are slight. The pain can be there all the time and always gets worse on walking, which can limit activity severely. No wonder epidural steroid injections have proved popular. In this study, they […]
The BMJ Today: Choosing Wisely makes me happy
Sometimes we all need cheering up on a Monday morning, and today I couldn’t recommend more highly this parody of “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, which sings the virtues of the Choosing Wisely campaign. Featuring some very sprightly OAPs and lyrics such as “antibiotics for a cold will do nothing but make you ill, a routine screen for many […]
Muir Gray: Population based and personalised care—two sides of the same coin
Health services have become archipelagos. There are great islands like primary care and secondary care, acute and community, or public health and clinical practice, and each one is surrounded by deep water with the occasional ferryboat or swimmer going between them. Any tension between public health and clinical practice is artificial; a population perspective and a […]
Claire Severgnini: Why we need more fracture liaison services
An estimated three million people in the UK have osteoporosis, and a recent survey of the National Osteoporosis Society’s members revealed that a fifth of women who have fractured bones sustain three or more breaks before being diagnosed. That must change and osteoporosis must be diagnosed sooner. At the National Osteoporosis Society, we believe that everyone over 50 […]
The BMJ Today: Things worth getting depressed over
The summer may not have brought out the lighter side of The BMJ Today: austerity, assisted dying, medical overuse, and osteoporosis in men. Don’t be put off though. In two Features, Gareth Iacobucci looks at the UK government’s changes to the welfare system since 2010. The articles use the results of The BMJ’s online survey […]