Today I was at my Citroen garage to have a malfunctioning driver’s side door handle replaced. I had problems getting in and out of the car. The problematic door handle should have been replaced 2 weeks ago when I and the car were present at the garage for other repairs. But on that occasion, I was told that the chap who did the painting had not done it as he was supposed to, had arrived at the premises, and would ...
This blog has considered a number of issues relevant to prescribing of medications. Paragraph 98 in the 2022 version, is one of the most powerful. It is squarely designed to protect patients. The paragraph numbers may have changed in the 2024 version but the thrust of the guidance remains essentially the same. You are responsible for any prescription you sign, including repeat prescriptions for medicines initiated by colleagues, so you must make sure that any repeat prescription you sign is ...
The issue has surfaced – it is in the public domain – about concerns for the mental health of a US President. Doctors in the UK are not allowed to diagnose or speculate on diagnosis about any living person in the absence of therapeutic contract, clinical request for professional opinion, or other legitimate involvement (e.g. via the courts). There have been instances where political leaders’ physical or mental health has been a subject of public concern, raising questions about their ...
“Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates,” written by sociologist Erving Goffman and published in 1961, is a seminal work in the field of sociology and particularly in the study of social institutions and mental health care. The book offers a profound analysis of life in “total institutions,” particularly focusing on psychiatric hospitals. The work has had a significant impact on the field of psychiatry and the broader understanding of institutional settings such as extended ...
The case of Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] UKSC 11 is a landmark decision in the UK law of medical negligence, specifically in relation to the duty of a doctor towards a patient in relation to advice about treatment. It fundamentally altered the legal approach to patient consent and disclosure of risks by healthcare professionals. Materiality explained The concept of materiality was brought to the forefront of UK medical law in Montgomery. The Supreme Court held that a risk ...
If someone is actively slashing their wrists or about to jump from a building, or about to stab someone to death – those are obviously urgent situations. The risk, the evidence and the dire consequences are easy to spot. There is a difference between matters that need immediate attention and those that need urgent attention. All matters that need immediate attention will be considered urgent. However, not all matters that are urgent need immediate attention. The infographic below aims to ...
In this post I will spend some time understanding the power of medications, then extract some fundamental principles from the GMC’s guidance on prescribing (April 2021). I then analyse two real-world scenarios in prescribing that I have experienced and reference each against the GMC’s guidance. [The scenarios do not contain information that identifies any patient. Both scenarios are common in medical practice] A patient requests a medication to treat side-effects of another medication (clozapine) that he is established on. This ...
Back in the 1990s, diagnostic criteria existed for sure. We had ICD-9 as our main diagnostic manual. My recollections from around that time was that the criteria were hardly ever referenced. How it worked was, the consultant psychiatrist would declare diagnosis or differential diagnoses without actually stating which criteria were met from available evidence. As a junior trainee, I had no say in the matter. In one adolescent psychiatry service around 1993, the consultant psychiatrist and a consultant psychologist stated, ...
This post was inspired by a non-medical colleague – initials L.R. See Hysteria, physician assisted paroxysms and sexual relations which follows up on this post. The practice of medicine is built on ‘belief’ in treatments. History shows us how misplaced beliefs led to some horrific treatments, mistakes and death. Many of the treatments now considered “weird” or “outdated” were conceived and implemented in an era before the establishment of rigorous scientific methodologies that are now a cornerstone of modern medicine. Here ...
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is commonly diagnosed in childhood and often lasts into adulthood. ADHD affects both children and adults, and it can interfere with or reduce the quality of social interactions, school performance, and work performance. For something exciting skip to ADHD Scam Clinics. Introduction ADHD is characterised by three main groups of behaviour symptoms: Diagnosis is not simply a matter of checklists. It is also about how any of the above may express themselves ...
