Too often we seem to forget in debates about our mythical “health system” that much healthcare is provided by private interests, whether private practitioners or companies.
Doctors
Open disclosure is no silver bullet
Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is moving to be more transparent about how much it pays health care professionals, but GP Dr Peter Mansfield has mixed feelings about the announcement.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: Dominique Strauss-Khan
Crikey reads have their say.
How the Patel case has changed the world of health care for ever
Some doctors are concerned about Jayant Patel’s conviction for manslaughter and his sentence to seven years imprisonment. Why? Because it sets a dangerous precedent, writes Professor Merrilyn Walton.
The uncertain, scary future for doctors
There are now more than 13,600 known diseases, meaning doctors become specialists and ignore the medical system as a whole, Dr Atul Gawande told Stanford’s School of Medicine graduating class.
Reading habits of overachieving doctors
What does a highly successful doctor read? W H Chong listens as three doctors with massive IQs recount their favourite books, escapist fiction and Freud in medicine.
Devine: The rot infecting our hospitals
The major issue affecting our hospitals isn’t lack of funding, it’s dealing with the insane and complicated bureaucracy that entangles multiple hospitals together. Time for communities to take back ownership of their local hospital, writes Miranda Devine.
Diary of a Surgeon: Diary of a surgeon: death of overseas-trained doctors
Hospitals and regulators, if they are satisfied with the supervisory structure around overseas trainees, should be able to approve their employment in the system, writes Professor Guy Maddern from St Anywhere.
Diary of a Surgeon: Doctors on the market?
Marketing of products is something all surgeons must live with on a daily basis. Representatives visiting and discussing new products is appropriate. Free giveaways are not, writes Professor Guy Maddern.
Victorian abortion law: overriding the conscience of doctors
Victorian doctors who oppose abortion are legally obliged to be involved. The law doesn’t just legalise abortion, it silences dissent, writes Sinclair Davidson.
Why doctors can’t decline an abortion
Last years abortion law changes in Victoria raise some interesting ethical issues for doctors. Even doctors that are morally anti-abortion must now legally participate in it, explains Julian McGauran.
Tired doctors need a complex solution, not simplistic headlines
The debate about long working hours and the vexed issue of extended shifts again has those concerned in a tailspin, writes Professor Drew Dawson.
The First Physician: when your patient is the president
The leader of the free world is too important to be brought down by a case of the sniffles, so the US President — and his inner circle — are monitored around the clock by a team of doctors, nurses and assistants. Meet the people who have taken some very important lives in their hands.
Doctors criticise Rudd’s hospital tours
Doctors are too busy to play tour guides for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s hospital tours and they’re coming out in complaint at Rudd’s lack of understanding of the depth of the hospital funding crisis.
Time for MDs to get out of bed with drug companies
Despite their closeness, doctors and drug companies are becoming increasingly uneasy bedfellows, with calls from the very top of the global medical profession for a major clean-up.
Money: the most potent medical evidence there is
Imagine if much of the evidence that governed treatment decisions by doctors was based on a carefully selected release of studies designed and funded by the companies that are trying to bring their new and very expensive treatments to market…. writes Dr Ian Haines.
Medicalising female s-xual disorder in the age of V-agra
As Pfizer celebrates a decade of Viagra, many companies are racing to develop drugs for what they regard as the potentially lucrative “female s-xual dysfunction” market, writes Ray Moynihan.
Why sick country people are on a highway to nowhere
As petrol prices soar, eligible country patients who have to travel for specialist care are being reimbursed at a miserly rate of between 13 and 17 cents per kilometre, reports Melissa Sweet.
Should there be national registration for public health workers?
Australia is moving towards national registration for core health and medical professionals, but there are no safeguards regarding public health officials, writes Peter Sainsbury.
Beware the Gardasil hype: an industry insider
Despite the hype, there’s a lot we don’t yet know about Gardasil, writes former drug sales rep Kimberly Elliott.
Why exhausted NSW rural doctors have shut up shop
On Wednesday afternoon the two GPs at Dorrigo in northern NSW went on strike, closing their surgery. Dr Horst Herb, who has worked in Dorrigo for six years, explains how it happened.
Global PR firm outed as force behind blood clot awareness campaign
The international PR firm Fleishman-Hillard, working with drug company money, is helping run a high-profile campaign to raise public awareness about blood clots in Australia, reports Ray Moynihan.
Senior doctors “selling” drugs for $5000 a day
A long time drug industry insider in the United States says leading specialists can earn up to $5000 a day, for “educating” their peers on behalf of Big Pharma, writes Ray Moynihan.
US medical schools to end drug company gifts to doctors?
The rampant wining and dining of doctors may soon be a thing of the past, if the latest recommendations of a powerful medical group are to be implemented, writes Ray Moynihan.
Bill Glasson: We need a new type of health professional
Australia urgently needs to develop new ways of delivering health care, writes former AMA head Dr Bill Glasson.
