Anyone who questions the value of breast screening programmes must still feel a bit like Galileo did when he championed heliocentrism. To many people, including parts of the medical establishment, it seems counterintuitive to suggest that mammography might not be that effective and could lead to overdiagnosis. The evidence might be building, but it still […]
Anita Jain on the paradox of rape in India
“For those who care for their country”—the strap line spelt it out for me. As Aamir Khan returned with the second season of his documentary/talk show, Satyamev Jayate, I knew I would be watching. The show stirred the hearts of Indians across the globe in its last run. It had thrown up incisive questions about […]
Richard Humphries: A year is a long time in the politics of integrated care
When Andy Burnham set out his vision for “whole person care” at The King’s Fund last year, few would have disagreed with his crisp summation of the need to move towards one service that meets people’s needs as opposed to the three very different existing services—the NHS, mental health services, and social care. The Labour […]
The BMJ Today: Medical neutrality, weight loss, and The BMJ Awards
“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 […]
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 […]
N. Devadasan and P Bore Gowda: Private healthcare providers threatened by the Vajpayee Arogyashree Scheme
There have been some recent newspaper reports that networks of private hospital owners have threatened to stop providing services to patients if the government of Karnataka expands the Vajpayee Arogyashree Scheme (VAS) from the poor to the rest of the population. [1,2] We look at the reasons for this reaction. Healthcare services in India are […]
Tane Luna Ramirez: Humanitarian disasters leave women at higher risk
Today, as International Women’s Day approaches, up to 23,000 people will be forced to flee their homes, joining 45 million others around the world who are already displaced due to conflict, persecution, or natural disaster. Of course people of both sexes suffer and die from the direct consequences of these displacements, and from the crises […]
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 […]