The G20 met on the weekend. As usual the topic of sustainability of health systems gets discussed. It is a problem facing all countries. The demographics of aging populations coupled with increasingly expensive healthcare makes for a government economist’s nightmare....
In medicine, beliefs and ideas get very ingrained. Some, such as screening mammography become sacred cows. And when sacred cows are questioned the reaction is more akin to dealing with heresy than dealing with science. This was on display again with yet another...
As the year draws to a close it is time to reflect on major events of this year and look to what might happen next year. There have been some major myths exploded this year and I predict there will more to come. It is also fascinating to see the fury with which health...
Over the weekend I saw an article claiming that 70% of Australians wanted something done about gambling. As usual that “something” is code for government intervention of some description. The end result is generally inconvenience for the majority with no impact on the...
When you fill up a bucket to the top with water it will start to overflow. Whilst not a perfect analogy this concept comes to mind when one considers the following two trends. The drug quetiapine (Seroquel) is now the “prescription drug of choice” on the street. There...
This video shows graphically how many people are helped by taking certain medications for “risk reduction” . This figure called “the number needed to treat ” is rarely quoted because it would make more people question the need for...
