One of the challenges of teaching medical ethics is the need to continually connect with the wellsprings of philosophy and (whisper it) theology. Without these elements there is danger of a retreat to the pragmatic and utilitarian, or worse still to legalism (an undue dependence on the law rather than ethics), particularly in courses where […]
Mit Philips: No time to quit on HIV/AIDS funding
Here in Europe, HIV has virtually gone off the radar. It has been reduced to a chronic but eminently treatable disease that affects relatively small numbers of people, neither a major threat nor a major challenge. In Africa, however, it is a completely different story. […]
Anna Mead Robson: Psychiatry – a specialty for failures?
I once met a medical student who had failed his first year exams. “It’s ok,” he said, as I tried to console him. “I know I’m not very bright, but I can always be a psychiatrist after medical school.” Two years later, after I had professed an interest in psychiatry, a doctor told me: “You […]
Edward Davies: GP Commissioning. Again.
Here at Groundhog Day, I mean the NHS Confederation annual shindig, the talk of the conference floor is GP commissioning. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s speech last night was pretty low on laughs, but what he lacked in charisma he made up for in trumpeting this latest idea. And when I say latest idea, I of […]
Richard Smith: US health reform – good or bad?
Is US health reform a “monumental system transformation or a fatally flawed compromise?” This was the question addressed last night by Alan Gerber, doctor, economist, health policy expert, government adviser, and holder of five chairs at Stanford University (enough, pointed out by the chair of the meeting, for a one person dinner party) in the […]
Kayte McCann: Standing up for science
Are we standing up for science, or have we all become so laid back about it that the very basis of medicine and research are now lost to us? Earlier this week I attended the Sense About Science annual lecture at the Royal Society of Medicine in London. The lecture was entitled “It’s time to […]
Nick Foreman on road safety
At midnight on 31 January 1983 legislation was introduced to make the wearing of seat belts compulsory. Only 40% of the population were wearing them at the point and the change in the law was met with howls of indignation. But now if you or I get into a car the use of a seat […]
Liz Wager warms to qualitative research
I’m just back from running a course in Kenya and, as usual, it was an eye-opening experience – but perhaps not in the way you might expect. I’ll admit that, until now, I have been a bit sceptical about qualitative research. […]
Julian Sheather: Neither playing God nor worshipping Her
And so scientists have succeeded in creating life in a test-tube. Hey ho. Another day, another biotech Rubicon behind us. But before we finally succumb to miracle fatigue it might be worth holding that fact in our hands for a while and wondering what it might mean. […]
Emily Spry: Being pestered is part of being a foreigner in Freetown
Two young boys once helped me when my bicycle tyre was ripped right open by a bit of metal in the road. I spent an hour or so sitting with one while his cousin, who also had a bicycle, took my wheel to the repair man. When he came back, I tipped them both as […]