“Resistentialism is a philosophy of tragic grandeur. It … derives its name from its central thesis that Things (res) resist (résister) men. Philosophers have become excited at various times, says [its originator Pierre-Marie] Ventre, about Psycho-Physical Parallelism, about Idealism, about the I-Thou Relation, about Pragmatism. All these were, so to speak, pre-atomic philosophies. They were […]
Urban public health strategies will be key to ending AIDS
Reuben Granich, Sindhu Ravishankar, and José M. Zuniga Good News from London It is welcome news that HIV diagnoses in England fell by 17% between 2014 and 2015 with a decline that was largely driven by a 32% drop in diagnoses among gay men attending five of London’s largest sexual health clinics [1]. Delay in […]
We need to end “cut” practice in Indian healthcare
Commissions are symptomatic of the dominance of market medicine in India. It will take more than just laws to break this deep-rooted practice. […]
Richard Smith: Impressions of Devi Shetty’s hospital city—bringing surgery to the masses
I’m standing with Devi Shetty, a cardiac thoracic surgeon in his surgical gear, between two paediatric intensive care units with around 40 cots. All the cots are full apart from those ready for children who are undergoing surgery. The units are tremendously busy, full of activity, but at the same time calm. I remarked on […]
Mary E Black: Creating a path for organ donation
Every time the story of an organ donation is told, that path is more fully trodden […]
Kate Adlington: Without borders—lessons for transinclusive medicine
With a theme of “Psychiatry without Borders,” The Royal College of Psychiatry’s annual International Congress in Edinburgh last week was on trend in a post-Trump, post-Brexit era. Delegates were welcomed to “Auld Reekie” from nearly 50 different countries to discuss the latest advances and issues facing mental health patients and professionals—perhaps a sign of the international […]
Jonathan Glass: Is herd thinking in medical training leading us astray?
We are a lesser profession for not having an open discussion about the direction of medical training […]
Markus G. Seidel: Baby genome screening—paving the way to genetic discrimination?
Newborn screening programmes for a set of disease biomarkers are mandatory in many countries of the world in order to detect inborn errors early on and to avoid disabilities in or the premature death of otherwise healthy babies. The conditions selected for newborn screening depend on defined criteria that include incidence, morbidity and mortality, the […]
Jeremy Hunt: We need to be flexible about the need for flexible working
As a nation we’re fortunate that in NHS staff we have one of the most flexible workforces on the planet. When patients need care at the end of a shift, staff don’t point to an annex in their contract—instead they go the extra mile to do the right thing. And when necessary, as we saw […]
Lucinda Hiam: Grenfell survivors shouldn’t be afraid to go to hospital
Immigration and healthcare are separate issues, and denying people healthcare in a bid to deter immigration is inhumane […]