British hospitals need clinical ethicists
"We need to introduce clinical ethicists in hospitals in the United Kingdom," says a researcher in medical ethics in this week's BMJ....... A sound knowledge of medical ethics is essential to the good practice of medicine, yet conclusive evidence exists that doctors need help with ethical problems, writes Daniel Sokol of Imperial College London....... About a fifth of NHS acute trusts currently h...Concerns over the future of children's health care in British general practice
The British model of general practice is rightly admired, but there are several causes for concern regarding the future of children's health care in general practice, argues an editorial in this week's BMJ....... For instance, new out of hours arrangements may encourage parents to bypass primary care and seek emergency care in hospitals, while general practitioners have yet to take on a major rol...British conservatives should beware of Australian health service reforms
Australia is held up as a model of how to increase use of private health care in the United Kingdom. But experts in this week's BMJ warn that the effects of its reforms are not all beneficial and ask what can British and European conservatives learn from an Australian colleague who has deliberately sought to enhance the role of the private sector?...... The Australian prime minister, John Howard,...Heart disease risk in British men is overestimated
Current scoring methods over-predict the risk of death from coronary heart disease in British men, according to a study in this week's BMJ. ... ...Researchers assessed the accuracy of the Framingham risk equation for coronary heart disease in 6,643 British men aged 40-59 years. All men were initially free of heart disease.... ...Over a 10 year period, 2.8% of men died from coronary heart disease...US women endure twice the surgical biopsies as British for same cancer detection rate
Although the rate of breast cancer detection is similar in the two countries, US doctors perform two to three times more open surgical biopsies than British doctors. In addition, American women are recalled, or referred for further testing, twice as often as British women, according to a study by UCSF radiologist Rebecca Smith-Bindman, MD.... ...Women in both countries who are recalled undergo ad...British scientists receive Lasker Prize for discovering new treatment for rheumatoid arthritis
Two of Britain's leading biomedical researchers have received the prestigious 2003 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research for their discovery of anti-TNF (tumour necrosis factor) treatment as an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and other related diseases. ...... The Lasker Awards for basic clinical and medical research have come to be known as 'America's Nobels' and 66 reci...British public supports mercy killing
The authors extracted their findings from the eleventh British Social...Attitudes Survey, published in 1994. Just under a thousand people responded when asked if a doctor or a family member should be legally allowed to end the life of a person with a painful and incurable disease, if that person requests it.... ...Eighty four per cent of respondents felt that it should be permissible for...a doct...U.S., British scientific societies honor penicillin as International Chemical Landmark
.The development of penicillin, one of the 20th century's greatest lifesavers, will be honored as an International Historic Chemical Landmark at 11a.m. Friday, Nov. 19 in London. The designation takes place 70 years after the discovery of the drug was first published by Alexander Fleming. . .Representatives from the government, academic and private sector research teams that helped move Fleming...British Adolescents Need Government Support To Help Clean Up Their Act
. . . British teenagers have the worst sexual health in western Europe find researchers in this week's BMJ. In addition they have the highest pregnancy rate and are more likely to have used illicit drugs says Professor Martin McKee in a linked editorial. These factors, he says are symptomatic of a wider malaise in British adolescents and he calls upon health professionals to welcome the gover...