Shawn Whatley, Author at shawn whatley md

Modern Medicine Today, Miasma Tomorrow

Nearly 2,000 people died of cholera in London, 1848. Those who survived boarded their apartments and fled to the countryside. Streets were bleached and sprinkled with sulfur to combat the foul odours, miasma, that experts believed caused the infection.

Dr. Snow pioneered population mapping in outbreaks. He moved scientific thinking to adopt the water borne theory of cholera transmission: a feat far tougher than identifying the source of infection.

People believed foul smells caused disease. They thought noxious odours or miasma infected patients. The miasma theory of contagion held popular opinion for most of the 19th century. In its final hours before surrendering to the water borne theory, followers lashed out with invective and calumny. They attacked Dr. Snow and his theory. They even used Snow’s best example and twisted it into support for the old miasma dogma.

What holds unquestioned support in medicine today that will cause incredulous moans of disbelief by clinicians after us?

(photo credit: www.westendextra.com)

Curb Weekend Effect at Hospitals

Thank you, Mr. Blackwell, for highlighting the old-fashioned, bankers’ hours our hospitals still run on:

Curb ‘weekend effect’ at hospitals to make Saturday or Sunday admittance less risky for patients: study | National Post.

A fellow emergency physician commented:

“The bigger issue for weekends relates to non-MD staff.”

Surgeons want to operate, but there’s no staff to help out due to lack of staff or lack of money to pay staff.

Weekend Effect

Monday remains the busiest day, by far, in emergency departments across North America.

Acute care requires doctors AND nurses, not to mention an army of allied providers. We need to shift routine hospital business into weekend hours, or patients will continue to suffer for it.

Thanks, again, for writing about this!

(photo credit: www.hamiltonhealth.ca)

Fear the slippery slope | Nat’l Post | Suicide and End of Life Issues

Ms. Kay mentions a topic feared by media and public in her article:

Barbara Kay: Fear the slippery slope | National Post.

4,000 people take their lives every year in Canada, and we don’t like talking about it. “We might encourage others,” they say. I’m not sure whether this feeling is based on evidence or emotion.

Physician assisted suicide forces us to discuss the suicide epidemic in Canada and many other things besides.

A slippery slope exists when no meaningful stop could halt the progression from one end to the other. The burden of evidence lies with those who insist there is no slide. So far, all the evidence supports the slope and our movement along it.

Thank you, Ms. Kay, for having the courage to say so.

(photo credit: http://uofme.blogspot.ca/2012/12/fallacy-alert-slippery-slope-of-gun.html)