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The Irish Medical Times Blog: April 2008

One small step for pathological monster, one giant leap for a lawyer

Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who confessed to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering her children, may not be responsible for his actions, his lawyer said. Fritzl's lawyer said he will undergo a battery of psychological and psychiatric... Read more

Smoking is up despite the ban

More people are smoking today than in 2002, according to the Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition (SLÁN) in Ireland, published by the Department of Health (where did they get the fada?). This is exactly the opposite of what you... Read more

Do women in Ireland have a right not to be raped?

The 12-year sentence handed down on Richard Finn, the 20-year-old man who repeatedly raped a woman - while filming her with his mobile phone - in the grounds of a church, has once again got everyone asking if rapists in... Read more

The world is too full of diversity; keep your blood to yourself

Why do Jehovah's Witnesses refuse blood transfusions? It's part of their religious beliefs. That answer mustn't be clear enough for the High Court, which (again) has ruled that doctors, this time at Cork University Hospital, may give a life-saving blood... Read more

Paging Dr Incy Wincy

And we think the Irish health system has problems!... Read more

Smoking and obesity lowers American women's life expectancy

According to a story in the Washington Post, life expectancy is falling for some American women for the first time since the Spanish Flu epidemic in 1918. Apparently, in nearly 1,000 US counties that are home to 12 per cent... Read more

Could blindness be eradicated in 10 years?

Doctors in the UK have implanted breakthrough "bionic eyes" in two patients at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. Soon, patients with artificial eyes, who have been blind for decades, could be recognizing faces, according to the Times.... Read more

Look into my eyes!

A hypnotist in Britain has hypnotised himself and undergone an operation without any other anaesthetic, according to the BBC. Could this be the start of a trend that results in long lines of anaesthetists queueing up to claim the dole,... Read more

TD to rape victims: I'm sorry you're upset

Labour spokesperson on Disability and Equality issues, Kathleen Lynch, has apologised for writing a letter on behalf of a man on trial for raping and sexually assaulting two teenage girls. In the letter, Deputy Lynch testified that the attacker, Trevor... Read more

Obesity is a vicious circle, and other observations

Abdominal fat tissue produces a hormone that ultimately creates more fat cells, Canadian researchers have discovered. The bad news: your fat belly (if you have one) is making you fatter. The good news, if the discovery proves true, is that... Read more

Playing God and other accidental philosophies

Advice for junior doctors from a junior doctor: you may never know if you've made the right decision, and your conscience can never be taught to you.... Read more

Misdiagnosis death in Drogheda: facts revealed, lessons unlearned

The HSE has condemned itself in an investigation of the death of a 34-year-old woman who gave birth to twins in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda. A report based on the HSE investigation found that maternity, paediatric and anaesthetic... Read more

Are you listening, Gay Byrne?

A common-sense idea to reduce drink driving was made at the Irish Medical Organisation's AGM recently, but it got no media attention: seize the cars of drunk drivers. While it may not end the hundreds of needless deaths on the... Read more

Digital mammograms mean more callbacks in US

An increasing number of radiologists in the US are switching from traditional X-ray film to digital mammograms, and many of them have found they have to call more women back, according to the New York Times. Doctors say recall rates... Read more

Mary Harney in velour pyjamas

The Biopsy Report captures Mary Harney incognito.... Read more

Please dig yourself out of the grave; the doctor will see you now

A woman who died 17 years ago recently received notification of a hospital appointment from the Health Service Executive, it emerged in the Dáil yesterday. If anyone wanted evidence to back up recent findings that the HSE is suffering from... Read more

Women's rights? God's laws?

This article about illegal abortions in Kenya shows why we need rational debates about abortion and not emotionally charged rows. Think about why they happen and what the consequences are. Regardless of what side of the fence you are on,... Read more

NZ patients think Irish docs sound honest

A New Zealand study has revealed that people there consider the "lolling Irish brogue" the second-most honest accent for doctors. The Irish accent followed the East Coast Scottish accents (Edinburgh and Inverness) as the most honest of 30 different accents,... Read more

So you think you're a child prodigy?

Meet Akrit Jaswal, a 14-year-old medical student from India who performed his first operation at the age of seven, has an IQ of 146, and is (or was two years ago) working on a cure for cancer. TV3 will be... Read more

What have Kylie and Portlaoise Hospital got in common?

Breast cancer misdiagnoses don't just happen in Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise. Pop queen Kylie Minogue, who received treatment for breast cancer in 2005 and 2006, revealed this week on Ellen DeGeneres's US daytime talkshow, Ellen, that the first doctor she... Read more

MRSA? See ya later alligator!

It seems the answer to MRSA has been staring us in the face all along. It's alligators!... Read more

Cork backed as site for new hospital in Northeast

The recommendation of Navan as the site for the new Northeast regional hospital, reported by RTE, would have been the most shocking news of the week had it not been for Bertie Ahern's surprise resignation. And it's the biggest surprise... Read more

Tobacco giant funded massive lung cancer study

An editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine has admitted that a well-reported 2006 study claiming 80 per cent of lung cancer deaths can be prevented with CT scans was funded by a US tobacco company, Liggett Tobacco. Following... Read more

Taoiseach resigns; health service says, Who?

The Taoiseach's surprise resignation announcement this morning may have sent shockwaves through political circles and the building industry, but it was met, in the healthcare sphere, by widespread shrugging of the shoulders. There will, of course, be speculation over cabinet... Read more

Abandon hope, all ye who protest a poor health service

There is the health service that exists in the real world, and then there is the health service that exists in the HSE's own national staff newsletter, Healthmatters. (The most recent issue has not yet been posted, so here's a... Read more

Bacteria-killing sutures could help stop MRSA

Scientists in Glasgow have used stitches covered with bacteriophages to stop the spead of MRSA in hospitals, according to the BBC. In a study, these sutures killed 96 per cent of MRSA strains from people in three hospitals.... Read more