“Imagine that you write a scientific paper on the influence of various factors on drug compliance. You are not writing about a specific drug, but a student who is working […]
Columnists
Tom Jefferson: Covid-19—we live in surreal times
To me, the term “surreal” means dream like reality. That is what I felt when sitting at a table in my local Chinese restaurant in Rome. I noticed the waiting […]
David Oliver: A troubled care home market should concern us all
The success or failure of our care home market has serious implications for all health and social care services, warns David Oliver […]
Abraar Karan: To control the covid-19 outbreak, young, healthy patients should avoid the emergency room
Young, healthy people with symptoms of covid-19 can help to prevent outbreaks in emergency rooms where our society’s sickest will be seeking care, says Abraar Karan […]
Peter Brindley: If I had a million dollars…
There’s an unwritten rule in Canada: never miss an opportunity to big up all things Canadian. It is likely annoying to others, so, dear reader, please excuse me for channelling […]
Tom Jefferson: Covid 19—many questions, no clear answers
Because of my background as an epidemiologist and Cochrane researcher, and my involvement in the H1N1 outbreak, I often get stopped in the street, or in a bar, or the […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . More about anamnesis
Last week I discussed some meanings of anamnesis, starting with Plato, continuing with the patient’s history, and ending with Aristotle. There are more. Some are medical. All relate to memory, […]
Jeffrey Aronson: When I Use a Word . . . Anamnesis
Last week I referred to Noam Chomsky’s theory of a universal grammar and Stephen Pinker’s account of the idea that our ability to use language is instinctive and innate. This […]
Should the first rule of medicine be not “Do no harm” but rather “Be kind”?
Wordsworth wrote in Tintern Abbey that the “best portion of a good man’s life” are “His little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.” I understood this thought better […]
Richard Smith: Whom to trust on old age—Matt Hancock or Cicero?
The Manifesto of the Conservative Party promised us all five more years of healthy life by 2035. At the launch of the strategy for healthier longer lives from the All […]