De testimonio
I recently discovered the online slideshow (with audio) version of Professor Sir Michael Rawlins' 2008 Harveian Oration titled "De testimonio: On the evidence for decisions about the use of therapeutic interventions".
Category Literary Medicine
Dangerous Love
Love itself is dangerous. If you don't believe me, read on to learn about all the ways amorous acts can threaten life, limb and... other body parts.
When Douglas met Struan
The incomparable Douglas Adams, of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ” fame, needs no introduction. Struan Sutherland, however, is a name obscure to most of the world, but not the world of venoms and poisons. His magnum opus, “Australian…
Achieving impossible heights
Messner later became the first man to climb all fourteen of the world's giant 8000-meter peaks. In 1980 he climbed Everest solo - without oxygen
Palliative Care in Emergency Medicine
Applying the principles learned in Palliative Care to every-day Emergency Medicine practice with Prof Ian Rogers
Jesus Saves
The story of Alastair Coutts and Bob Eason as they try to save a dying patient in a small wooden hut in the Solomon islands with only basic equipment and a little help from Jesus.
Don’t put your Patient in a Box
The fourth rule of Expensive Scare Medicine is: 'If you measure something and it is not normal, make it normal if it is safe to do so'. But beware! This can lead to a dangerous and insatiable desire for 'euboxia' - the pathophysiological state whereby 'all boxes on a pathology print-out are in the normal range'.
How to give an unforgettable talk
Klotz' recount of Brindley's 1983 lecture on erectile dysfunction is truly unforgettable.
Little Willie the Poisoner
The ‘Little Willy‘ is a genre of short poems with an obscure origin but almost certainly inspired by, or inspired, the ‘Ruthless Rhymes‘ of ‘Harry’ Graham.
The Summing Up
W. Somerset Maugham knew he wanted to be a writer even before he became a medical student at St. Thomas's Hospital in London.
Fear and Loathing in ER and ICU
The Times Online have just published a brilliantly written and seriously hardcore article by the late Steven Wells, a UK rock journalist who recently died from lymphoma.
Echo of the widow Dimanche
The registrar stood open-mouthed next to the professor. Before them was a twisted unicorn's horn, an echo of that owned by the widow Dimanche, who sold water-cress in the streets of Paris. The patient was unmoved.