The road towards a more humane medicine

The road towards a more humane medicine.

Humane Medicine

151 that IRBs are political rather than ethical creatures and safeguard the interests of researchers above patients. He makes suggestions for the reorganization of IRBs to make them more democratic. McNeill's arguments illustrate that Snow's analysis still holds true. His position is that IRBs, staffed mostly by medical workers, exist so that research can be approved. To a non-scientist, the bu...

On the bumpy road towards ‘personalized medicine’

My uncle who practiced general medicine in a German village all his life wouldn't understand what I'm talking about: the care of his patients was always highly personalized. A new vision of 'personalized medicine' arose in contrast to current medical practice that relies on standards of care derived from epidemio-logic studies of large cohorts. New molecular methods increasingly will allow us t...

Beyond the rhetoric: towards a more effective and humane drug policy framework in South Africa.

The March 2011 Anti-Substance Summit in Durban continued the outdated approach to policy around illicit drugs in South Africa. It missed opportunities for discussing how to impact significantly on the health and social harms associated with problematic drug use and reduce the burden of drug-related cases in the criminal justice system. The government needs to move away from the political rhetor...

A return to humane medicine: Osler's legacy.

Sir William Osler is celebrated today not only for his contributions to the advancement of medical education, but also for the humanism he brought to the practice of medicine. He was a doctor whose bedside skills and manners were emulated, and can legitimately be called an infectious diseases specialist. Nonetheless, he was also a humanist in the broader sense of the term, a student of human af...