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Talking Points
Helping doctors face the uncomfortable task of discussing death
Faced with the uncomfortable task of discussing death, the overwhelming majority of doctors avoid the topic, reports Stat News. In response, US advocates for improving...
FDA panel recommends approval for gene-altering leukaemia treatment
A US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel has opened a new era in medicine, unanimously recommending that the agency approve the first-ever treatment...
Pet therapy races far ahead of scientific evidence – experts
A therapy-animal trend grips the US, reports The Washington Post.Tthe trend, which has accelerated hugely since its initial stirrings a few decades ago, is...
US dentists come under scrutiny over their power to stifle competition
The American Dental Association is a political force 'so unified, so relentless and so thoroughly woven into US communities that its clout rivals that of the...
NHI White Paper proposes 'effective nationalisation without compensation' of private healthcare
The recently released National Health Insurance (NHI) White Paper ignores the fundamentals of competition and choice, writes Mike Settas, director of health insurer KaeloXelus. Among...
Trump's international health aid cuts could result in 1m deaths
At least 1m people will die in sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere, The New York Times reports researchers and advocates said, if funding cuts proposed...
Depression over-diagnosis because GPs 'too reliant' on Pfizer questionnaire
Depression is being overdiagnosed because GPs are too reliant on a questionnaire designed by Pfizer, which also manufacturers psychiatric drugs, campaigners argue in The...
Medical 'voluntourism' in Tanzania: Some help does cause harm
The international medical volunteer placement industry opens the door to potentially disastrous outcomes, writes Noel Sullivan in Scientific American. Sullivan, a member of the faculty...
Facebook censors page on abortion pills
Facebook has refused to publish the page of an organisation that helps women obtain abortion pills, citing its policy against the ‘promotion or encouragement...
Is talking to yourself a sign of mental illness?
Talking out loud, when the mind is not wandering, could actually be a sign of high cognitive functioning, writes a neuro-psychologist in The Conversation. Rather...
New research is driving down unnecessary prostate biopsies
The field of prostate cancer scanning is 'on fire', says Canadian researcher Dr Laurence Klotz, as researchers worldwide compete to develop advanced imaging as a...
Social media is an ethical minefield for SA doctors
The Health Professions Council of SA should 'develop social media guidelines and train medical trainers in this specific area', writes Dr Brenda Kubheka of...
The adults who won't let go of their paediatricians
Despite the American Academy of Pediatrics recommending that the age for ending paediatric care be no later than 21, there are adults who, for...
The CEO of HIV's lonely and controversial fight
Michael Weinstein’s AIDS Healthcare Foundation treats an enormous number of patients — and makes an enormous amount of money, writes The New York Times Magazine. It has...
Why polio research still matters
In the decades since Dr Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine, the highly infectious childhood disease is now close to global eradication. Author...
Why are so many people popping Vitamin D?
There is mostly no reason for the patients to receive vitamin D tests. Yet US patients are demanding them and many physicians are initiating...
Why I gave my kidney to a stranger — and why you should, too
Becoming part of a chain of donations can unlock literally dozens of life-saving interventions. Dylan Matthews explains in Vox why he donated his kidney...
Motsoaledi wants private healthcare forced out for the NHI
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has been tasked with an important aspect of the 'radical economic transformation' agenda, and that is to nationalise healthcare in...
With HIV, no need to embellish achievements or to diminish challenges
A culture of chicanery, subterfuge and sycophancy now permeates all the factions in government, writes Fareed Abdullah, a medical doctor and former CEO of the South...
Should doctors breach confidentiality when a patient is unfit to drive?
Should healthcare professionals breach confidentiality when a patient is unfit to drive, asks Daniel Sokol, medical ethicist and barrister, in the British Medical Journal?
He...
Determining a perceptual threshold for artificial looking lips
Recognising the perceptual threshold for when lips appear unnatural is important to avoid an undesirable outcome in lip augmentation. A study in JAMA Plastic Surgery...
Social grants not winning the child malnutrition battle in South Africa
Social grants are a crucial component of South Africa’s fight against poverty and hunger. But they aren’t high enough, and social grants alone are...
Older men turning to health-threatening steroids to stay young
Growing numbers of middle-aged men are turning to anabolic steroids to make themselves look and feel more youthful and boost their sexual performance, The...
AIDS denialism spreads in Russia through online social networks
Aids denialism is not limited to South Africa, write Russian researchers for The Conversation. The rise of the internet and social media have given...
Serious lack of info on the impacts of Cuba-trained doctors
Reports of misbehaviour by South Africans studying medicine in Cuba have focused attention on the programme to alleviate rural doctor shortages. Chris Barron of...
More fruit and veggies may protect smokers against COPD
For current and former smokers, eating more fruits and vegetables may lower the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, a Swedish study...
Positive changes in the brains of retreat participants
More Americans than ever are turning to spiritual, meditative and religious retreats as a way to reset their daily life and enhance wellbeing. Now...
Trial to test dogs' ability to detect bowel cancer
A Daily Express report says Medical Detection Dogs has been given the green to begin the first colorectal cancer trial in the UK using...
Little or no weight gain from light to moderate drinking
Despite thousands of studies spanning decades, Jane Brody writes in The New York Times that alcohol remains one of the most controversial and confusing...
Ebola nurse's death to be investigated among claims of treatment being refused
The 2014 West African Ebola outbreak killed 11,310 people. Liberian nursing assistant Salome Karwah was not one of them. The disease that tore through...
Implications stemming from evolving definitions of 'safe sex'
Evolving definitions of what is ‘safe sex’ has implications for treatment as prevention and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), says Martin Holt of the University of...
Oxford college accused of 'lending credibility to quackery'
An Oxford University college has been accused of inadvertently 'lending credibility to quackery' by agreeing to host a conference on the 'alternative therapy' of...
Time to encourage safer alternatives to smoking – tobacco control expert
The regulation of tobacco and nicotine products has become less straightforward, writes David Sweanor, an adjunct professor of law at the University of Ottawa...
Academics who were challenged by Noakes' respond in SAMJ
Academics from the universities of Cape Town and Stellenbosch who were criticised by low carb-high fat champion Prof Tim Noakes for advocating a balanced diet,...
100 years later: Controversy still clouds the Rorschach test
The open-ended Rorschach inkblot test has survived a century of controversy and scorn. Is it hocus-pocus pseudo-science or does it have a role to...
Trump's policies set to damage health and science, journal warns
The BMJ warns in an editorial that US President Donald Trump’s administration 'is acting in ways that will suppress research and limit communication on scientific...
HIMI: Need for accessible info for healthcare service comparisons
Fear of public hospitals, high medical bills and family responsibilities are often the underlying motives for those who become medical aid members. Furthermore, there...
Africa needs to look at best practice elsewhere – Novartis SA CEO
The successful expansion of services for HIV/Aids, TB and malaria has highlighted the inadequacy of existing services to deliver interventions for other health needs,...
Current antibiotics guidance is wrong, argue some
It's the accepted position: If taking antibiotics, don’t stop taking them until the pill vial is empty, even if you feel better. But the...
Obamacare repeal will impact on mental health and addiction Tx
The debate over the fate of Obamacare has focused on the lifesaving care brought to people with cancer, diabetes, and other physical illnesses. But...