Talking Points
'Lie back and think of your career' – Ozz surgeon
A senior surgeon in Australia has triggered controversy after telling junior female doctors to go along with sexual abuse at work for the sake of their careers.Official NHS calculator predicts your heart attack
Britain’s NHS has launched a controversial calculator which predicts when you will have a heart attack or stroke - and compares a person’s ‘heart age’ with their biological age. But some critics raised concerns about the accuracy of a 'blunt tool' which tells every Briton they will have a heart attack or stroke one day, when many will not, and raised fears that the tool could be used to push millions more people into taking medication.Anti-abortionIst confused about female anatomy
An United States politician asked a testifying physician testifying before a House State Affairs Committee whether a woman could have a remote gynaecological exam by swallowing a tiny camera. The doctor explained that items swallowed do not end up in the vagina.Cause of suffering decisive in euthanasia
More than 85% of Dutch doctors would help a patient die, while 60% said they had done so. Around 1 in 3 said they would consider it if a patient were suffering from early dementia or mental illness. This is according to a VU University Amsterdam study that surveyed almost 1,500 doctors.The issue of 'googling' patients
The practice of ‘googling’ others may be ubiquitous in most fields, but it is an unresolved dilemma for professional medical bodies, write the authors of a study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.Judge: 'Therapeutic sterilisation … not eugenics'
A British mother-of-six with learning disabilities can be sterilised, a judge has ruled. Health authority and social services bosses had asked him to authorise forced entry into the woman’s home, the use of 'necessary restraint' and sterilisation, at a hearing in the Court of Protection – where issues relating to sick and vulnerable people are examined.SA’s Health minister and opposition MP slug it out over forensic failures
The operation of the national Health Department’s Forensic Chemistry Laboratories (FCL) has developed into a fiery exchange of public statements between Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi and the Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Wilmot James after the opposition MP was denied access to the Durban FCL.Cape Town wants clarity on e-cigarettes
Cape Town says it will escalate its efforts for legislative clarity on the wide range of alternative smoking devices and habits that have become commonplace in SA, including the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), reports Business Day. Meanwhile, The New York Times reports that initial public enthusiasm for e-cigarettes is waning among health and quality concerns.