One of the pleasures of being a doctor, albeit one who doesn’t see patients, is that you get to chat to other doctors, real ones, about the tricky decisions they […]
Columnists
Julian Sheather on sexuality and a severely brain damaged partner
Difficult cases may make bad law, but they can also be a powerful stimulus for thought. A problem may be a candle, as the French writer Paul Valéry put it, […]
Richard Smith: Rediscovering public health through global health
These days I spend lots of time in low and middle income countries, and as I think more about their health problems and less about the endless reorganisations of the […]
Tracey Koehlmoos: The hidden burden of women smokers in Bangladesh
Change is afoot in Bangladesh in terms of smoking and may represent a missed opportunity to prevent women from smoking. According to the WHO report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, […]
Julian Sheather: Should doctors prescribe placebos?
With considerable media fanfare the BMA has declared its opposition to the NHS providing homeopathic remedies. Not entirely a surprise, given the BMA’s explicit support for evidence-based medicine. The consensus […]
Richard Smith: Are you brave enough to feed back?
Are you brave enough to feed back when you see poor behaviour? I wish I was—because feedback can lead to improvement, whereas silence allows the poor behaviour to continue. I’ve […]
Richard Smith: Can the NHS get digital?
Why has the NHS been so much slower to use information technology than other sectors and what might be done to encourage it to speed up? These were questions addressed […]
Richard Smith: Cognitive surplus
One of the great pleasures of living in London is that a friend can email you (in this case from Salamanca) and say: “Hey, did you know Clay Shirky, a […]
Desmond O’Neill: A bloomsday brush with brilliance
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 […]
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, […]