WEMJ Volume 112 No. 1 - March 2013

Editorial

As I write this editorial the papers are full of the report from the Mid-Staffordshire inquiry 1. As readers of this journal may know and members of the society remember, I was one of a number of medical prophets who tried to stop the appalling neglect of patients that was occurring in the NHS 2 and suffered as a consequence. Staff are still not free to speak out against abuse in the NHS as whistleblower legislation only protects the staff so that they can complain to management ….. and it is the management who are at fault.

Medicine was a vocation and it is still a profession. At present Management is not a profession and does not have professional standards. A manager can perform extremely badly at one place, causing multiple deaths by his negligence, and then pop up at another place at a higher salary and on a bigger bonus. Management will never act correctly until they also are subject to a register from which they can be “struck off’ such that they cannot work in management anywhere else. Then they may start to take moral decisions with a long term view.

In this issue there is an excellent article by our President, Dr. Nabil Jarad. This describes medicine as it should be practiced ….. with the doctor acting as the advocate of the patient and providing individualised treatment

Paul Goddard

Editor

Reference 1.http://cdn.midstaffspublicinquiry.com/sites/default/files/report/Executive%20summary.pdf

2. Paul R Goddard: the History of Medicine, Money and Politics Clinical Press 2008

Article 1)  Dr. Nabil Jarad Personalised Respiratory Medicine in Bristol-The Hospital and the Community

Volume 112 No 1 Article 1 March 2013

Respiratory medicine is emerging from the nihilistic phase where the emphasis of treatment was on symptom control and reducing progression of disease and is becoming more effective and personalised.  In Bristol increased specialist input in acute medicine and establishing a responsive daily acute clinic has resulted in improvement of care of respiratory diseases. 

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Article 2) Dr. Jeshil Shah  Calvarial tuberculosis features in 3 cases (continued) 

WEMJ Volume 112 No 1 Article 2 March 2013

Tuberculosis of the calvarium is an uncommon entity with increasing incidence of late. Only anecdotal reports describing its imaging features have been previously published in the literature. We report the role of conventional radiography, CT and especially MRI findings in the evaluation of calvarial tuberculosis in 3 cases. Presence of adjacent liquefied soft tissue with minimal hyperintensity on T1 weighted images may give a clue to the diagnosis. Key words:Calvarium, tuberculosis, radiography, CT scan, MRI

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Article 3) Book Review of Beyond the Silence by Andrew Chapman Reviewed by Paul Main

WEMJ Volume 112 No 1 Article 3 March 2013

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Article 4) Book Review of The Confessions of Saul By Paul R Goddard Reviewed by JJ Mann

WEMJ Volume 112 No 1 Article 4 March 2013

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Article 5) Book Review of Pattern Recognition Neuroradiology by Neil M. Borden, Scott E. Forseen. Reviewed by Rebecca Hunt

WEMJ Volume 112 No 1 Article 5 March 2013

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Welcome to the West of England Medical Journal. This is the online journal of the Bristol Medico Chirurgical Society. The journal was formerly known as the Bristol Medico Chirurgical Journal and was first published in 1883.

This is a general medical journal and is available for everybody to read online. To access the issue please click on the link in the column to the left of this introduction.

Please see the Instruction for Authors if you wish to submit an article or send a letter.

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