The controversial documentary Vaxxed: From Cover Up to Catastrophe, is based on extensive recorded interviews with whistleblower, Dr William Thompson, a former senior scientist at the CDC, (Centres for Disease Control) the US agency concerned with safeguarding public health. The film looks at whether his claims – that he, and four others at the CDC, skewed data […]
When we attach the words ethics and deep space exploration we might be forgiven for thinking of the ‘Prime Directive’ of the television and movie series Star Trek. A community of virtuous people take what is ostensibly the best of Western cultural values out to beautiful worlds that support life in a spaceship that is luxurious […]
Informed consent in medicine is essential. In March 2015, the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board, which raised the legal standard for what informed consent actually means. The case has shaken the medical profession. Dr Daniel Sokol, barrister and ethicist, discusses its significance to patients and their relatives. Sinister beginnings On 19th August 1947, 20 […]
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I am not an apologist for Andrew Wakefield, the doctor who proposed a link between the MMR vaccine and autism via the guts nearly 20 years ago. Since then Wakefield has had his licence to practice withdrawn and the link declared disproved. But I do feel that we should not simply shut down the discussion […]
The fact that prison suicides are at record levels is tragic, but it is only one of the most serious consequences of the last government’s decision to cut prison staffing while prisoner numbers were rising. The prison service is in crisis following a 40 per cent cut in the number of prison officers and mental health […]
Biosimilar medicines have been the hot subject of debate for a number of years. But as health systems around the world face continued budget squeezes and seek to increase the number of patients treated with biosimilars, the use of these less expensive options becomes ever more pertinent. Today (Tuesday 15th November) patient groups from across […]
Misdiagnosis of acute illnesses and chronic conditions is the largest cause of preventable medical error and accounts for over 40 per cent of medical malpractice claims in Britain. The National Patient Safety Agency does keep figures of diagnostic errors made in NHS hospitals but underreporting is common. In 2014, the NHS paid out £194 million in […]
I hate to be bored. And always want to do new things and make new things happen. So I’ve always been involved with research. I started aged 18 as an IT researcher prior to managing computer systems, electronics, avionics and atomic research for the government. Nowadays I fund medical research in autism spectrum disorders. Despite […]
Read More… from My experience of the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC)
In theory, the PIP scandal was just about one factory in France producing substandard breast implants. In practice, it proved to be a watershed moment for the entire UK cosmetic surgery industry, opening it up to a wave of investigations and reviews and exposing its gravest flaws. Undoubtedly one of the industry’s greatest weaknesses was […]
As the G20 summit draws to an end, we hope that global leaders will push ahead with confronting the problems that mean that people across the world have limited access to medical tools and effective drugs. The MSF Access Campaign, which launched in 1999, winning the Nobel Prize, has had some success stories, but so […]