The challenge of structural violence
Every day and in every country around the world people are harmed, and robbed of…
Category: BMJ
HIV: Breakthrough study raises hopes of effective prevention if drug’s cost can be lowered
Landmark results in an African trial of HIV prevention through twice yearly injection could finally…
Gender healthcare: Six new services for children and teenagers to open in England by 2026
Up to six new regional centres will open in England by 2026, in addition to…
Seven days in medicine: 31 July to 6 August 2024
Clinical safetyConfidence to speak out falls to five year lowThe proportion of NHS workers who…
Caring for dying patients in the community
What you need to knowRecognising when patients are dying can be difficult—clinical and general indicators…
Thalassaemia: NICE recommends “life changing” gene editing therapy
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended exagamglogene autotemcel (known as…
David George Pratt
bmj;386/aug08_23/q1745/FAF1faDavid was born in London in 1935 and studied languages at A level, winning a…
Breast cancer screening expansion: modelling doesn’t reflect real life and should not be used to update guidance
The move by the US Preventive Services Task Force to recommending screening mammography for women…
NICE recommends new treatment option for osteoporosis after menopause
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recommended abaloparatide as a new treatment…
Breast cancer screening does not improve length or quality of life
I was one of the architects of the NHS Breast Cancer Screening Programme (NHSBSP) in…
US abortion bans have led to health harms, discrimination, and unwanted births, reports Amnesty
The abolition of the right to abortion in the US has led to the deterioration…
Michael Bloomberg donates $600m to historically black US medical schools
America’s four medical schools belonging to historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have been gifted…
Lawrence Mascarenhas
bmj;386/aug08_17/q1740/FAF1faLawrence Mascarenhas was a distinguished obstetrician, gynaecologist, minimal access surgeon, and educationalist who made an…
Jennifer Mary Fisken (nee Street)
bmj;386/aug08_16/q1743/FAF1faAt the age of about 12 Jenny decided she wanted to be a doctor—this may…
Manak Chand
bmj;386/aug08_15/q1735/FAF1faManak Chand studied medicine at the Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi. He was…
William Goodhugh Dawson
bmj;386/aug08_14/q1736/FAF1faWilliam Goodhugh Dawson was born in Coulsdon, Surrey, and studied medicine at Christ’s College, Cambridge,…
Valerie Graves
bmj;386/aug08_13/q1737/FAF1faValerie Graves (née Scotland) will be remembered as the co-founder of the Medical Recording Service,…
Struggling doctors reduce hours to avoid burnout, finds GMC survey
Increasing numbers of doctors are looking to cut their hours or leave the NHS, the…
Physician associates must be supervised by a GP straight after seeing each patient, says BMA
Physician associates (PAs) working in general practice must have access to a named onsite GP…
US abortion restrictions are causing widespread harm
Evidence is mounting that in the two years since the US Supreme Court removed constitutional…
Episiotomy: Are we ready to let women make choices in pregnancy and childbirth?
Research on therapeutic measures and interventions is sparse in pregnant women, which risks hindering important…
Trace elements and pancreatic cancer . . . and other stories
Cadmium and pancreatic cancer riskA case-control design, nested within a large longitudinal study of cancer…
Intake of sugar sweetened beverages among children and adolescents in 185 countries between 1990 and 2018: population based study
AbstractObjectiveTo quantify global intakes of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) and trends over time among children…
Company that lost medical records of nearly 83 000 people faces {pound}6m fine
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a fine of just over £6m to a…
Doctors call for ban on cutting artificial stone after reporting first UK cases of silicosis
Experts have called on the UK government to follow Australia’s lead in banning artificial stone…
NHS staff urged to “accompany vulnerable colleagues” to work amid riots
NHS employers must “urgently support migrant and ethnic minority staff” as far right riots and…
GP who faked assault by patient to get him removed from list is suspended for 12 months
A senior GP has been suspended from the UK medical register for 12 months after…
Presence of an interested doctor is vital to establishing trust
Smith reminds us that “we must simply listen.”1 He encourages us to listen in silence,…
On its own, listening is not enough
Smith writes: “Psychoanalysis may, in my view, be scientific junk, but an hour a day…
David Oliver: Our health regulators are in a crisis of competence and credibility
On 26 July the Department of Health and Social Care published Penny Dash’s interim independent…
“Things cannot remain as they are”—UK’s top obstetrician on workforce morale
For years, maternity care in the UK has come under intense scrutiny. Inquiries into services…
Decompression alone or with fusion for degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis (Nordsten-DS): five year follow-up of a randomised, multicentre, non-inferiority trial
AbstractObjectiveTo assess whether decompression alone is non-inferior to decompression with instrumented fusion five years after…
Surgery for spinal stenosis with degenerative spondylolisthesis
Controversy continues about the best surgical option for patients with symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis and…
Quentin Blake’s art discharged—temporarily
bmj;386/aug07_2/q1741/FAF1faFor two decades hundreds of drawings by the acclaimed UK artist Quentin Blake have brought…
Vaccine manufacturers should produce a pertussis only vaccine for use in pregnancy
In their article on increasing maternal vaccination rates against whooping cough, Razai and colleagues say,…
Let’s end corporate sponsorship of sporting events
Mega sporting events matter. They inspire athletes and the general public, they inspire national pride,…
Collective action could become norm, warns head of England’s GPs
The collective action being undertaken by general practices could be maintained in the long term…
UN fires nine staff members over potential involvement in 7 October Hamas attack on Israel
The United Nations has said it will be terminating contracts with nine staff members who…
Meet the new editorial scholar: George Webster
BiographyGeorge Webster, 28, graduate entry medical student at the University of Warwick became The BMJ…
Diabetes: One in 10 patients on NHS’s “soups and shakes” diet plan went into remission
Just over one in 10 people who took part in NHS England’s Type 2 Diabetes…
Never ever underestimate the impact of small acts of kindness
A hospital patient feels terrified in a sleepless night, when a nurse—or perhaps a porter—comes…
Incidence of cardiovascular events was lower after covid-19 vaccination, study finds
The incidence of cardiovascular events, such as strokes, heart attacks, and blood clots, was lower…
Covid-19: NHS staff will be offered vaccine this autumn, but JCVI recommends more limited rollout
Frontline NHS staff will continue to be offered a covid vaccine as part of this…
Surrogacy needs to be regulated, not prohibited
Criticism of surrogacy—in which a woman carries a child for parents who cannot do so…
India’s billion dollar pharma industry has a waste problem
In January 2022 farmers in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri, in the southern Indian state of Telangana, warned…
Assessment and management of self-harm and suicide risk in young people
What you need to knowSpeak to young people with respect, compassion, and sympathyDo not solely…
Offering comfort, not cure: the palliative care specialist
“Contrary to what people may think, working in a hospice doesn’t mean we all go…
Sixty seconds on . . . food allergies
Should I put my peanuts away?We often hear announcements on aeroplanes asking us not to…
Puberty blockers: BMA calls for lifting of ban on prescribing to children
The BMA has called for a pause in the government’s ban on the prescribing of…
When I use a word . . . . Fictional drugs in dystopian fiction
Speculative fiction and Walter BesantI have elsewhere defined fictional drugs as non-existent medicines, intended for…