Apparently in penalty shots in soccer, the goalkeeper will lunge to the left or right over 80% of the time. However in roughly 80% of penalty shots the striker aims for the middle of the net. The latter makes sense as it allows the greatest chance of getting a goal....
The question, which we must always ask with medication, is whether the benefit outweighs the risk. This question applies to each drug and each individual person. Despite the wishes of academics and governments there is no protocol to fit all. Sadly doctors and...
Sometimes, one reads a statement so obvious that one needs to ask, “Why didn’t I think of that?” So it was that I read on the blog of Dr David Healy a most obvious observation about medications. “Drugs can have a hundred effects … but we only test for one”. In medical...
As we start another winter in the southern hemisphere the doom and gloom calls are already up. This will be the worst winter for viruses. There is a killer flu on the loose. The system will not cope. The only answer is to get a flu shot. We are told that having a flu...
Regular readers will recall the case a few months ago where a man successfully sued his doctor for not referring him for gastric surgery. I am very pleased to say that this was overturned on appeal. There was never any suggestion that the man had not been advised to...
In this New York Times article, A-list actress Angelina Jolie bravely announced that she made the tough decision to undergo elective bilateral mastectomy after her doctors warned her that she has an 87% risk of developing breast cancer and a 50% risk of getting...
