Category: British Med. Journal
The ‘Decline’ of Medical Care in the Empire State
February 20th, 2014, No Comments
New York City and vicinity has the best of everything and the worst of everything, a fact to which all great cities can attest. In New York, I’ve been able to have rarely diagnosed conditions identified through the perseverance of someone born to the theme of “I can do this!” Expertise is all around us […]
Implications of Government Sponsored Mental Health Screenings: Some Important Questions
June 29th, 2004, No Comments
To the Editor, The U.S. government is obsessed with mental illness as an explanation for society’s ills. The GAO, an investigative arm of the U.S. government, recently admonished the administration for solely focussing upon “stress” related issues in their research into Gulf War Syndrome. Ignoring irrefutable evidence of systemic damage from exposures to multiple toxicants, […]
Contradictions in Asthma Management
September 25th, 2003, No Comments
To the Editor, It is gratifying to see heightened interest in chronic asthma, an increasingly prevalent illness throughout developed countries. Proactive strategies are undeniably the correct approach to take in all disease processes but are of particular importance in asthma, since so many attacks can be prevented through our awareness of triggers for bronchoconstriction. This […]
Diagnosing Patients in the Absence of Data
December 22nd, 2002, No Comments
To the Editor, I am extremely embarrassed by the state of medical “science”, having just read the article, “What should we say to patients with symptoms unexplained by disease? The ‘number needed to offend’” by Stone et. al. In this day and age of access to science, technology, history and philosophy, we have come to […]
CMFS is an Overdiagnosed Complaint – Examine physician symptoms!
August 10th, 2002, No Comments
To the Editor, Bass and May, cite a frighteningly high percentage of persons whom they feel qualify for a diagnosis of “chronic multiple functional somatic symptoms”. There is no doubt that such a diagnosis will fit certain individuals. However, the criteria used for making this determination was as follows: Potential CMFS patients may be identified […]
Questionable Assumptions in Gulf War Syndrome Research
September 12th, 2001, 1 Comment
To the Editors of the BMJ, I am an unlikely party to be commenting upon the article recently published in your journal, “Prevalence of Gulf war veterans who believe they have Gulf war syndrome: questionnaire study” by Chalder, et. al. The conclusions and indeed, the premises upon which this study is based, is indicative of […]