Can Medicine Be Cured

by Seamus O'Mahony

  Wellcome Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine (2000) Peptic Ulcer: Rise and Fall. London: Wellcome Foundation. Online at www.histmodbiomed.org/sites/default/files/44836.pdf

  Westaby, Stephen (2017) ‘The shaming of heart surgeons: how politics brought a proud profession low’. Spectator Health, 16 February. Online at https://health.spectator.co.uk/the-shaming-of-heart-surgeons-how-politics-brought-a-proud-profession-low/

  White House: Office of the Press Secretary (2000) ‘Remarks made by the President, Prime Minister Tony Blair of England (via satellite), Dr Francis Collins, Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, and Dr. Craig Venter, President and Chief Scientific Officer, Celera Genomics Corporation, on the completion of the first survey of the Entire Human Genome Project’. Online at www.genome.gov/ 10001356/june-2000-white-house-event

  Wijesuriya, Jeeves (2017) ‘Why the case of Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba makes doctors so nervous’. New Statesman, 2 February. Online at www.newstatesman.com/politics/health/2018/02/why-case-dr-hadiza-bawa-garba-makes-doctors-so-nervous

  Williams, Roger, R. Y. Calne and I. D. Ansell et al. (1969) ‘Liver transplantation in man, III: studies of liver function, histology and immunosuppressive therapy’. British Medical Journal 3:12–19.

  Wilson, Duncan (2011) ‘Who guards the guardians? Ian Kennedy, bioethics and the ‘Ideology of Accountability’ in British medicine’. Social History of Medicine 25:193–211.

  Wise, Peter H. (2016) ‘Cancer drugs, survival, and ethics’. British Medical Journal 355:i5792.

  Wright, Ronald (2005) A Short History of Progress. Edinburgh: Canongate.

  Yankelovich, Daniel (1972) Corporate Priorities: A Continuing Study of the New Demands of Business. Stanford, CT: Yankelovich Inc.

  Index

  Please note: Because pages in eBooks are not fixed, the page references in the index will not be stable. Please use the search function of your reader to locate the position of the entries in the text

  A New Look at Medicine and Politics (Powell) 159–60

  A Short History of Progress (Wright) 266–7

  Abernethy, William J. 228

  Acta Paediatrica Scandinavica (journal) 107

  Adcock, Jack 197

  Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge 67

  ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) 261

  adverse reactions 85, 94–5, 97

  advertising 135

  Aesclepius 261, 262

  Affordable Care Act (‘Obamacare’) 174–5, 176

  Africa 266

  Alder Hey Hospital, Liverpool 47, 190, 202

  Alexander-Williams, John 29

  Altman, Douglas 89

  American Council for Graduate Education in Medicine 236

  American Cystoscope Makers Inc (ACMI) 33

  American Economic Review 165

  American Psychiatric Association 113

  Anderson, Charlotte 106–7

  Anderson, Wes, The Royal Tenenbaums 247–9

  Angell, Dr Marcia 67

  Animal Farm (Orwell) 4

  animals, testing on 18

  Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism (journal) 111

  Annals of Oncology (journal) 145

  Annan, Noel, Our Age 163

  anti-inflammatory painkillers 38, 86

  antiarrhythmic drugs 84

  antibiotics 1, 37, 207, 255–6

  antibody tests, blood 108

  anticoagulant drugs (blood-thinning) 133, 134, 207

  antiemetic drugs 95

  antihypertensive drugs (for high blood pressure) 86, 94

  apriority 81, 84

  Arrow, Kenneth 165

  Asher, Richard 31, 34, 80–1, 100, 102, 244–5

  Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) 138

  Astor, David 4

  Attlee, Clement 163

  autism 261

  Autodesk (software company) 176

  Bailey, Bella 218, 222

  Bailey, Julie 218, 222

  Ball, Peter 44

  Balwani, Sunny 184

  Baron, Hugh 29

  Bawa-Garba, Hadiza 197

  Bazalgette, Peter, The Empathy Instinct 196, 235–6, 239–40

  BCG vaccination (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) 3

  Beltrán-Sánchez, Hiram 257

  Bennett, Alan 39

  Bennett, Craig 237–8

  Bevan, Aneurin 4, 43, 163, 169–70

  Beveridge Report (1942) 163

  Biagioli, Mario 60–1

  Biden, Joe 142

  ‘Big Data’ 73, 155–6, 180–1

  ‘Big Pharma’ 11, 35, 67, 86, 256

  ‘Big Science’ 48–53

  and ‘Big Pharma’ 67

  and empathy 236–7

  failure 74, 76

  improving 56–7

  narrow scope of 142

  Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 69

  Billroth, Theodor 35

  biomedical science 61

  biopsies 41, 107

  biotech 68

  bipolar disorder 261

  Black, Nick 223

  Black, Sir James 35–6

  Blair, Tony 70, 71

  ‘blockbuster’ drugs 35

  blood pressure 86, 94–5, 113

  blood tests 108, 183, 184

  Bloom, Paul, Against Empathy 246–7

  Blunt, Ian 229–30

  BMC Medicine (journal) 110, 236

  BMJ Medical Humanities (journal) 243

  ‘bogus contract’ 202–3

  Bolsin, Steve 215

  Booth, Christopher 143–4

  Bord Bia (Irish Food Board) 104

  Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, The 89

  BP (British Petroleum) 176

  Bradshaw, John, Doctors on Trial 9

  breast cancer 152

  Brexit 169

  Bridgepoint Capital (venture capital firm) 233

  Brin, Sergey 179

  Brisby, Toni 219

  Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry 190, 194, 215, 225

  British Journal of Cancer 148

  British Medical Association 214

  British Medical Journal 22, 79, 148–9, 215–16, 223, 251

  British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) 27–30, 32, 39, 46, 137–8

  Broad, Eli 67

  Broken Boy, The (Cockburn) 5–6

  Brooks, David 185

  Brouns, Fred 116–17

  Brown, Gordon 218

  Browne, Noël 3

  Building a More Sustainable NHS in Scotland (2015) 230–1

  bullying 27–8, 28, 184, 193, 230, 249–50

  Buranyi, Stephen 61–2

  Burnet, Sir Macfarlane, Genes, Dreams and Realities 74

  Burnham, Andy 219

  Bush, Vannevar, Science: the Endless Frontier 40

  Butterworth-Springer (publisher) 62

  Calderwood, Dr Catherine 170–1

  Calne, Roy 42–3

  Cameron, David 145

  cancer 146–9

  breast 152

  diet and 89–90

  drug trials 143–4, 151

  drugs 124, 143–4, 146–7, 150–2

  homeopathy 99

  kidney 146–7

  lung 78–9, 149–51, 152

  research 142

  survival 143–4

  Cancer Drugs Fund 145, 152

  CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T-cell therapy 68

  Cardiac Arrhythmia Suppression Trial (CAST) 83–4

  cardiac catheterization 41, 42

  Carolinas Health System 180

  Carreyrou, John 184

  Catassi, Carlo 110–11

  Celera, (biotech company) 70, 173

  cervical screening 12

  Chalmers, Sir Iain, Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth 82, 92

  Chan, Priscilla 67–8

  charity sector, Irish 123

  Charlton, Bruce 52–3

  Charon, Dr Rita 240

  chemotherapy 147–8, 151, 152

  Chief Medical Officers 170–1

 
children

  brain-damaged 198–9

  cardiac surgery deaths 190, 215

  illness and 1–2, 68, 105

  polio 5

  cholesterol, high 95–6, 113

  chronic diseases (comorbidities) 93, 94

  chronic fatigue 104, 108, 109

  cimetidine (Tagamet, acid secretion drug) 35–6

  Citadel, The (Cronin) 170, 197

  Clarke, Kenneth 162

  Cleveland Clinic, US 67

  Clifford, Clark 211–12

  Clinical Epidemiology: A Basic Science for Clinical Medicine (Sackett) 81

  ‘Clinical Evidence’ project 99

  Clinical Teacher (journal) 244

  Clinton, Bill 70–1

  clotting, blood 132–3

  Cochrane, Archie, Effectiveness and Efficiency: Random Reflections on Health Services 79–80, 145

  Cochrane Centre 82–3

  Cockburn, Patrick, The Broken Boy 5–6

  coeliac disease 16, 28, 103–9, 114, 118–19

  ‘coercive healthism’ 185

  colitis 123, 137

  Collins, Francis 70, 71, 73, 173

  Collins, Harry 23

  Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection (CHAI) 194

  common sense 102

  ‘communication’ 244–5

  complementary medicine 99

  Condorcet, Marquis de 258

  consensus statements 109–14, 162

  consumerism 159, 161–2, 171, 241

  ‘convergence revolution’ 175

  Cook, James 267

  Cork 5

  Cotton, Peter, The Tunnel at the End of the Light 33–4, 43–5

  Crawford, Matthew 237

  Crick, Francis 63

  Crimmins, Eileen 257

  Crohn’s disease 50–1, 123, 137

  Cronin, A. J., The Citadel 170, 197

  Crosby capsule intestinal biopsy 107

  ‘Cure the NHS’ (pressure group) 218

  Current Biology (journal) 238–9

  cystic fibrosis 246

  Cystic Fibrosis Ireland 246

  Daily Telegraph 228–9

  Danbury, Dr Chris 200–1

  Darzi, Lord Ara 175, 223

  databases, health 180–1

  Dataism 185

  Davis, William, Wheat Belly 114–15, 116

  Death of Humane Medicine, The (Skrabanek) 186

  Death of Ivan Ilyich, The (Tolstoy) 242

  deaths

  drugs and 84

  from TB 3, 4

  debates, medical 9

  deep vein thrombosis (DVT) 132

  deprescribing 96–7

  depression 260–1

  deprivation 51

  designer drugs 71

  Dicke, Willem-Karel 104–7, 112, 119

  diet

  and cancer 89–90

  and coeliac disease 103–9

  gluten-free 108–9

  digital health 174–87

  diuretic (water tablet) 95

  Dix, Katy 232

  DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid) 63, 70, 155

  Dobson, Frank 216

  Doctor Foster Unit (DFU) 217

  Doctor in the House films 196

  Doctors on Trial (Bradshaw) 9

  Doll, Richard 77–80

  Douglas, Colin, The Greatest Breakthrough since Lunchtime 23–6

  Downie, Robin 162, 244

  Dr Foster Intelligence (DFI) 216, 219, 231–2

  Dr Schär (company) 110, 111

  Dubos, René, Mirage of Health 257–9, 261, 263

  Dworkin, Ronald 191–2

  Easter Island 266–7

  Economist 227

  Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth (Chalmers and Enkin) 82

  Eisenhauer, Elizabeth 143–4

  elderly population

  and ‘Google generation’ 170–1

  in hospital 100, 222, 235

  over-prescribing 93–5, 206

  sepsis and 130, 134

  elite, the 75

  Elsevier (publisher) 61, 63, 65

  Ely Hospital, Wales 250

  emergency departments 205–6

  Empathetics™ (empathy training) 240

  empathy 235–52

  Empathy Exams, The (Jamison) 241

  Empathy Instinct, The (Bazalgette) 196, 235–6, 239–40

  Empty Raincoat, The (Handy) 212

  endoscopes 32–3, 107

  Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio-Pancreatography (ERCP) 33–4, 44

  endoscopy 32–4

  Enkin, Murray, Effective Care in Pregnancy and Childbirth 82

  Enlightenment, The 258

  epidemiologists 217

  epidemiology 82, 89

  Epimetheus 264

  ethics, medical 16–17

  EU (European Union) 169

  European Commission 65–6

  European Medicine Agency (EMA) 148

  Evans, Alfie 198

  evidence-based medicine (EBM) 80–4, 87, 90, 93–5, 97, 100–2

  Exact Data (US) 180

  ‘excess deaths’ 225

  F1000Research 65

  Facebook 65, 178, 179, 181

  Feinstein, Alvan 40, 92–4, 114

  fibromyalgia 108

  Financial Times 216

  First World War 143

  Fitbit fitness-trackers 176

  Fleming, Sir Alexander 256

  Flexner Report (1910) 197

  fluid retention 80

  Follies and Fallacies in Medicine (McCormick and Skrabanek) 114

  Food and Drug Administration, US (FDA) 148–9, 178

  Ford Motor Corporation 210

  Formby, Nicola 150

  Foundation Medicine (genomics company) 153

  France 166, 167

  Francis QC, Sir Robert 190, 213, 219–23, 226

  fraud, scientific 58–9

  ‘free-from’ foods 104

  Freud, Sigmund 81

  Fries, James 257, 258

  Fujii, Yoshitaka 58

  functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) 236–8, 240

  Gainsborough, Hugh 32

  Gard, Charlie 198, 199

  Gastrectomy, Measured Radical 37

  gastritis 36

  gastroenterology 15, 37, 77

  Gastroenterology (journal) 110

  Gates, Bill 68–9

  Gates, Melinda 69

  General Medical Council 189, 190, 197

  Genes, Dreams and Realities (Burnet) 74

  genetics 21–2, 152–5

  mutations 152–3, 155

  testing 178

  genomics 70–4, 156, 173, 174

  See also DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid)

  Germany 167

  Gill, A. A. 149–51

  Gisler, Monika 72

  Glasziou, Paul 91–2, 92

  GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 67

  Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) 180

  gluten-free diet 103, 108–9, 115–16, 117, 118–19

  ‘Gold Effect’ 114

  Gold, Thomas 114

  GoLytely (laxative) 18

  Gonsalves, Gregg 69

  Good Hospital Guide 216, 217, 219

  Goodenough Report on Medical Education (1944) 41

  Goodhart’s law 60

  Google 65, 173, 179, 180, 181

  Gore, Al 58

  government

  British 161–2, 164, 229, 231

  Irish 3, 124, 246

  GPs

  1930s 1–2

  consultation times 126

  over-prescribing 93–6

  retiring 198

  Grain Brain (Perlmutter) 114–15, 116

  grants, research 66

  Gray, John 253–4

  Great Ormond Street Hospital, London 199

  Greatest Benefit to Mankind, The (Porter) 203

  Greatest Breakthrough since Lunchtime, The (Douglas) 23–6

  Greenwood, Major 267–8

  Guardian, The 224

  Guyatt, Gordon 82

  Haas, Dr E
lson 105

  Haastrup, Isaiah 198

  haematologists 134

  Hairmyres Hospital, Glasgow 4

  Handy, Charles, The Empty Raincoat 212

  Harari, Yuval Noah 185, 186

  Harbison, Joe 124–5

  HARLOT plc 91

  Hart, Josephine 129

  Hart, Julian Tudor 266

  Harvard Business Review 227–8

  Hayes, Robert H. 228

  Haynes, Brian 81

  Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) 180

  health awareness days 127–8

  health care 165–7

  Health, Ministers of 160–2, 189, 216, 218, 219–20, 224

  Health Nucleus (US clinic) 173

  Healthcare Commission 218, 229

  heart attack (myocardial infarction) 84, 85–6

  heart disease 85, 116, 117

  Heath, Iona 135

  Helicobacter pylori (bacteria) 36–9, 262

  heparin (blood-thinning drug) 133, 134

  Hewitt, Patricia 216

  Heywood, Ben 177

  Heywood, Jamie 177

  Hill, Sir Austin Bradford 77–80

  hip replacements 132

  Hippocratic Oaths (Tallis) 244

  Hirschowitz, Basil 32–3

  Holland 105–6

  Holmes, Elizabeth 183–4

  Holtzman, Neil 71

  Hopkins, Harold 32

  Horton, Richard 55, 57, 265–6

  hospices 139, 145–6

  Hospital Standardized Mortality Ratio (HSMR) 213, 214–17, 218, 219–21, 223

  Howe, Geoffrey 250

  Howick, Jeremy, The Philosophy of Evidence-based Medicine 87

  Human Genome Project (HGP) 70–4

  Human GIS (Geographic Information System) 175–6

  Human Guinea Pigs (Pappworth) 41–2

  Human Longevity, Inc.™ (HLI) 173–4

  Human Tissue Act (2004) 190

  Hume, David 99

  hunger 118, 119

  Hunt, Jeremy 224

  Hurst, Sir Arthur 28

  Hygieia 261

  Hypothesising After the Results are Known (HARKing) 57

  Ice-Bucket Challenge 127–8

  Illich, Ivan, Medical Nemesis 7–9

  and medical profession 196–7, 207, 263

  ‘Rebirth of Epimethean Man’, 264

  ‘Sisyphus syndrome’ 160–1

  ‘social iatrogenesis’ 185

  views on 134

  immunosuppressive drugs 51

  immunotherapy 150

  IMS Health (US) 180–1

  Industrial Maladies (Legge) 251

  infections, hospital-acquired 192

  infectious diseases 6

  inquiries

  Bristol Royal Infirmary 190, 194, 215, 225

  by Geoffrey Howe 250

  HSMR 213–17

  Shipman 190

  Stafford Hospital 217–22, 229, 235

  Institute of Cancer Policy, London 145

  institutionalization 7–8, 56

  insurance companies 101