It was in April 2013 when I made the link between my son’s suicide attempt at five years of age and his use of the widely prescribed asthma and allergy medication Singulair (active ingredient Montelukast). The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) had...
Those following me on social media may have noticed the hashtag that I have started- #bigpublichealth. Some have asked what does this mean and why have I done it. Good questions. Below is my explanation. We are forever hearing about big tobacco, big food, big pharma,...
The French have a reputation, rightly or wrongly, for arrogance. They believe that the French way is best and everyone else should get on board. Sometimes they have a point. Gavin Mortimer wrote an interesting piece in The Spectator comparing rates of childhood...
The vaping debate has reached an interesting point. We seem to have moved on from arguing the merits of vaping as being 95% less harmful than smoking. Most of the more recent debates has focussed on funding of charities dedicated to reducing the death and disease toll...
The golden rule of surgery is: Primum non nocere – ‘First, do no harm’. There is another, competing rule that comes from practicing defensive medicine: Prius non tempore – ‘first, do no time’. Primum non nocere boils down to avoidance of acts...
Inanimate objects can generate much passion. What matters is how they are used not the objects. A knife is great for cutting food but can be used to kill. Is a knife good or bad? It is neither and both. The Medicare system generates passion. The passing of its...
