September 23rd, 20190855The opioid crisis in the USA has entered the next phase. Purdue Pharmaceuticals, which manufactured OxyContin is looking towards Chapter 11 bankruptcy. An Oklahoma court found Johnson and Johnson had intentionally played down the dangers and oversold the benefits of opioid medications.
The issues with opioids are now well known....
April 23rd, 201801031There is a great quote by Milton Friedman which says “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results”. The same can be said of medical interventions.
We are constantly told of the crisis in mental health and that the solution is more funding, more awareness and more...
September 14th, 201711851There is a lot of talk in recent times about doctors needing to be resilient to be able to handle the stresses and strains of the job better, rather than getting depressed or suicidal.
I welcome the attention that is being brought to these important issues. It is vital that we discuss the health issues of the health care profession...
July 10th, 20170941Research has shown that those who do not drink alcohol at all die younger than those who do. Like many of these studies we will never hear more about it.
Yet it confirms the pattern often seen that studies, particularly about nutrition are contradictory. No wonder we get confused.
Daniel Sarewitz, a professor at Arizona State...
April 13th, 201701047We hear a lot about depression in the media – we have had many high profile sportspeople, politicians and musicians disclose their experiences with depression. and as a result many people assume that this is the most common mental illness.
Wrong... anxiety disorders are more common. About 14 per cent of us experience anxiety...
January 4th, 201701064It is great that rates of Alzheimers disease are decreasing but it is not due to the use of statins. Find out more in this video
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October 24th, 201611511There was an interesting review published in The Lancet about the placebo rate in use of antidepressants. The review found that that the placebo response rate had remained steady over the last 20 years – at around 40%. What was even more interesting was the way this was spun. Australian Doctor reported international experts hailing...
May 16th, 201621816We live in a time of paradox. In the western world (indeed in almost all countries) life expectancy is increasing. Historically people had to worry about not having enough to eat and having shelter. In western countries, for the vast majority of people these are not day-to-day worries. Even those (not all) with little money have food and...
