Istanbul by train sounds a long way, but it offers a much lower carbon footprint than flying and was also a richer experience. Not quite the Orient Express, and the slow trundle through the Romanian countryside seemed interminable, but allowed plenty of reading time. And there were a few interesting encounters – which doesn’t happen […]
Richard Smith: Important study points towards a different future
In what I think is a very important BMJ paper, John Ioannidis and Fotini Karassa have shown that systematic reviews, the highest level of evidence, may be highly deceptive. We did, I suppose, know this in a way, but they illustrate the case beautifully. What disappoints me is that nobody has responded to their paper. […]
Charlotte Wirl: Ageing and disease prevention
At the recent European Health Forum Gastein, a group of “young Gasteiners” blogged live from the talks. A selection of the blogs are on the BMJ blogsite. Tessa Richards, assistant editor, BMJ, also attended the conference. You can read her blog and introduction to the “young Gasteiners” here. Lots of information and data on an […]
Jeremy Sare on Khat
There is no more baffled and frustrated group of law enforcers than the customs officers who oversee the massive and legal importation of khat into Britain. Although the plant’s value is measured purely in terms of its quality as a stimulant, the HMRC must, for the purpose of tax, deem khat as merely “salad.” […]
Joe Collier: Help to allow terminally ill patients to die
In the UK surveys show that the public at large believe that, within carefully delineated safeguards, doctors should be allowed to assist intellectually competent adults with terminal illness to die when and where they wish. At present such action would be illegal. With this in mind, on Wednesday 13th October, a healthcare group was established […]
Ana Rita Pedro on health literacy in Europe
At the recent European Health Forum Gastein, a group of “young Gasteiners” blogged live from the talks. A selection of the blogs are on the BMJ blogsite. Tessa Richards, assistant editor, BMJ, also attended the conference. You can read her blog and introduction to the “young Gasteiners” here. Health literacy is a big challenge in […]
Peter Lapsley: Unfair charges
The decision by the Scottish Parliament to follow Wales and Northern Ireland, and to abolish prescription charges from April next year leaves the Department of Health out on a limb where England is concerned. The case for doing away with the charges is incontrovertible. At £7.20 per item (£28.25 for a three-month exemption certificate or […]
Richard Lehman’s journal review, 18 October 2010
JAMA 13 Oct 2010 Vol 304 Cardiac surgery was once considered too bloody even to contemplate: now it is commonplace. But there is still no agreement in practice about how much blood should be transfused following heart surgery – rates of transfusion vary between 8% and 93% in similar units across the USA (p.1586). The […]
Richard Smith: Medical schools to close?
Until now medical schools have had it easy. They have lots of high quality applicants, most students graduate, and all of them can find jobs. Suddenly, as for many others in Britain, the world looks more hostile. I hang around medical schools, and many people think it likely that one or two medical schools may […]
Domhnall MacAuley: Charge the sick
Why not charge people for being ill? A satirical letter in the Irish Times, recommended a monthly levy on illness. Declan Moriarty suggested a sliding scale so that MS sufferers could be levied €10 per month, Parkinson’s €9, Motor Neuron €8, Friedreich’s Ataxia €7, Arthritis €6, and a levy on every other illness of €5. […]