We must separate the question of whether assisted dying is morally acceptable from the question of whether it should be legalised […]
Katherine Sleeman: Assisted dying—how safe is safe enough?
Vinay Prasad on the NCCN’s cancer treatment guidelines: The US system needs an audit
What level of evidence should we have before costly, toxic cancer drugs are given to patients? […]
Kieran Walsh: Antibiotic resistance—a role for clinical decision support?
There have been concerns about antibiotic resistance for decades. But concerns have grown in recent years as the problem continues to get worse. Various strategies have been used to address it—from medical education, to restricted formularies, to directly observed treatment. Strategies have targeted a variety of groups including doctors, students, allied healthcare professionals (such as […]
Naren Patel and John Middleton: Brexit must “do no harm” to the public’s health
The government needs to secure in statute its commitment to the public’s continuing health […]
Lieven Annemans: We need to reach a common understanding about real world data
Although real world data can complement data from trials, overly optimistic expectations about its use may lead to a situation of “surreal world data” […]
Richard Smith: Celebrating progress with creating a sustainable NHS
One of the successes of health workers concerned with climate change has been to get climate change framed as a health issue as well as an environmental issue […]
Alexandra Sinclair and Sandra Doughty: Illuminating the patient experience of lumbar puncture
A survey carried out by the Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension Charity in the UK, which exposed the toll on patients of undergoing repeated lumbar puncture, has spurred a collaborative research project and paved the way for improved clinical management […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review—5 March 2018
Richard Lehman reviews the latest research in the top medical journals […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . Meldonium
Meldonium is in the news again. It was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in January 2016 for use by sportsmen and women, because it supposedly increases blood flow and therefore exercise capacity. A few months later, the tennis player Maria Sharapova was found to have taken it, reportedly to “combat a magnesium deficiency, […]
Neville Goodman’s metaphor watch: Let’s talk about the weather
Meteorological metaphors are common in everyday speech: he was lightning fast; you are my sunshine; it’s clear skies from now on. That doesn’t make them common in medical writing, and nor are they easy to search. Most of the clear skies are literal, in articles about climate change, the ozone layer, and bird migration among others. But […]