Popular Misconceptions About Evolution

Evolution2

Ask the average lay person what they take the word evolution to mean, and few will reply “the change in the genetic frequency of a population over time”. The lack of understanding can be further evidenced by US figures where only 45% of people hold true the statement “human beings, as we know them, developed from earlier species of animals”. More worrying was a study conducted by the Jewish Theological Seminary and HCD Research in Flemington, New Jersey where 34% of doctors reportedly believed that the Intelligent Design was a superior explanation.

He who is not forgotten will not die

Last

When times get tough and external stressors tip the scales of emotional imbalance towards the darkness of unchartered thought…I seek solace in the sagacious mantra and steadfast oration of eloquent preceptors. One such inspirational raconteur, inspiring optimism in the face of adversity was Dr Randy Pausch.

Odentophagia

328538060

Procrastination and Neologisation met in a bar. Eponyms and retrodiction lay idle as they were enveloped by the dankness of stagnant learning, draped in the predilection of Morpheus. They begat an heir ‘Odentophagia’

Lessons from Osler 004

Osler

Osler teaches us to treat the patient, not the disease. Even if the patient is difficult.

Do as I Say (Not as I Do)

Doctor Smoking Camels 2

Times are changing, but in some cases not quickly enough. I reproduce a comment from my dear friend Francesca in evidence. Are doctors beyond reproach? Can we admonish patients for not playing by the rules…when we do not play by them ourselves?

Tourette’s Syndrome – a fathers perspective

It was not until two years later that the diagnosis of Tourette’s syndrome was made. 1997 was deteriorating into an annus horribilis. Edward had been in hospital for weeks with a severe septic arthritis of the hip, we sold our over-capitalized house and my brother-in-law in England needed chemotherapy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The General Infection of 2010

map2

As epidemics go, the General Infection of 2010 pales into insignificance alongside the swine flu pandemic of 2009. Professor Broughton-Delirium was glued to his TV set throughout the finals stages of the epidemic, fascinated by the epidemiological drama unfolding in front of his eyes…

Lessons from Osler 001

Osler

The Master Word for success in medicine, according to William Osler, is Work. But in the Generation Y era of lifestyle above all else, isn’t work a dirty word?

Lessons from our past

cadogan_001

Cadogan had suffered from gout for many years, and the book is based upon his personal observations. He believed that gout was not hereditary, seasonal, or curable, but was due to over eating, indolence, vexation, and intemperance.

A Philosophical Death

It is sometimes forgotten that one of the most important goals of medicine is to help people achieve a good death.
What might we learn from the deaths of the great philosophers?