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There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn’t work. Richard Dawkins, A Devil’s Chaplain
We misguidedly look back to an age that never was. Ours is the golden age of safe tested medicine effective beyond placebo in which we have cut infant mortality and conquered diseases. Then forgotten they existed. Let’s hear it for Western scientific medicine. Richard Dawkins: Enemies of Reason: The Irrational Health Service, Channel 4 2007
It is possible in medicine, even when you intend to do good, to do harm instead. That is why science thrives on actively encouraging criticism rather than stifling it. Richard Dawkins
Formerly, when religion was strong and science weak, men mistook magic for medicine; now, when science is strong and religion weak, men mistake medicine for magic. Thomas Szasz, The Second Sin, 1973
But at the moment I’d like to talk about another way because this threat is with us and at the moment is more imminent. One of the traditional methods of imposing Statism or Socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. The doctor begins to lose freedoms. It’s like telling a lie, and one leads to another. The doctor wants to practise in one town, and the government says to him, You can’t live in that town; they already have enough doctors. You have to go someplace else. All of us can see what happens once you establish the precedent … It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project ... Now, the American people, if you put it to them about socialized medicine and gave them a chance to choose, would unhesitatingly vote against it. We have an example of this. Under the Truman administration it was proposed that we have a compulsory health insurance program for all people in the United States, and, of course, the American people unhesitatingly rejected this. Ronald Reagan, recording Speaks out against Socialised Medicine, 1961
It’s been suspected for a long time that the effectiveness of medical treatment depends partly on the patient’s faith in it. This power of belief – the Placebo Effect – offers hope that the mind can heal the body or at least reduce pain. The Mind Machine: Pain and Healing, 1988
The desire to take medicine is perhaps the greatest feature which distinguishes man from animals. William Osler
In 2001 Frontline reported on the dramatic rise in the number of children being given behaviour modifying medications. Frontline: The Medicated Child, PBS 2008
A teacher suggested he was hyperactive ... In pre-school another teacher suggested medication ... and prescribed Ritalin … It made him anxious. ibid.
A steep rise in the diagnosis and treatment of childhood mental illnesses of all kinds. ibid.
Tens of thousands of children are being prescribed powerful medication to control hyperactivity and improve their behaviour. According to the latest figures prescriptions for these drugs have almost doubled in the last five years. But now Britain’s leading psychological societies are calling for an urgent review. So is medication being used as a chemical cosh for kids? Tonight: Chemical Cosh for Kids? ITV 2011
The number of prescriptions for drugs to combat ADHD has gone up from 480,000 to 800,000 in the last 5 years. Most of the drugs are stimulants, and work like the illegal drugs speed or cocaine. But for ADHD sufferers they radically increase focus and help concentration in the classroom. ibid.
The medication has side effects. And some of them are serious. ibid.
Bigger and bigger doses are required to achieve the same effect. ibid.
What happens when the drugs stop working? Tonight: When the Drugs Don’t Work, ITV 2013
Antibiotics are the bedrock of modern medicine ... There’s growing concern they are losing their effectiveness. ibid.
People desperate for medication. Pharmacies struggling to stay afloat. Frustrations boiling over. So what’s going wrong? Tonight: Pharmacies: The New NHS Frontline? ITV 2024
On average eight pharmacies are closing down every week. ibid.
A medicine with which the Federation hopes to eliminate mental illness for all time. Star Trek s3e14: Whom Gods Destroy, Kirk’s log
One of the most significant medical discoveries of the century – Fleming identifies the mould ... The health of the British people is transformed. The British VII: War and Peace, Sky Atlantic 2012
Altogether the medical charities provide £250 million for medical research; more than the government provides through the Medical Research Council. Horizon: An Expensive Theology, BBC 1992
After a decade of intensive research a new order of medicine is entering the final stage of trails. That of genetically targeted medicine. So-called personalised medicine. For cancer patients targeted drugs hold the promise of being more effective. Horizon: Miracle Cure? A Decade of the Human Genome, BBC 2010
This is Liam. Aged five he was disruptive, hyperactive, and unable to focus ... Now, five years later, Liam’s life has been transformed. His new-found ability to concentrate is largely due to a drug called Methylphenidate. Best known to most of us as a brand name: Ritalin ... These drugs were originally designed fifty years ago for the treatment of adults with depression. Horizon: Pill Poppers, BBC 2010
ADHD is believed to be caused by an imbalance of key chemical messengers in the areas of the brain that control attention and memory. Ritalin appears to make these messengers more effective, helping to restore attention. Like all drugs, Ritalin comes with a cost. ibid.
The weakest link in the room isn’t usually the drugs or the equipment, it’s us – the surgical team. Horizon: How to Avoid Mistakes in Surgery, BBC 2013
Elaine Bromiley case: a routine sinus operation 2005: intubation failed ... Their decision-making had become fatally compromised ... They had lost their situational awareness. ibid.
By concentration on a single task or activity its [brain] capacity to actually monitor other things by the passage of time is severely compromised. ibid.
Their checklist doesn’t just catch simple human mistakes ... it helps to flatten the traditional hierarchy. ibid.
Medicine is waking up to the experience of others. ibid.
It comes in all shapes and sizes. It can relieve pain, treat depression and even helped relieve the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease ... There isn’t anything in it. These pills are placebos. Horizon: The Power of the Placebo, BBC 2014
More than half of them [cyclists] were faster with the cornflower. ibid.
It’s [oxygen level] all to do with a level of neuro-transmitter called PGE2 ... The fake oxygen is causing real physiological changes. ibid.
Even the size and shape of a pill can make a difference to how it works. ibid.
There are clear limits to what placebos can do. ibid.
The relationship between a doctor and their patient is significant. ibid.
Pharmaceuticals have become an increasingly important part of modern medicine, and our seniors shouldn’t have to worry about whether they can afford the medicines they need to stay healthy and maintain their independence. Michael K Simpson
In the backstreets of Tunisia this knowledge is still being used. But medieval Islamic doctors were also aware of other traditional medicines from China and India. Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Science & Islam 1/3: The Language of Science, BBC 2009
Perhaps the most ghoulish aspect of Islamic medicine – surgery. ibid.
Eye surgery was one of Islamic medicine’s great successes. ibid.
Modern medicine owes a considerable debt to the work of Islamic physicians. ibid.
It’s a body of knowledge that benefits all humans. ibid.
Humira: made by an American drug company. Humira isn’t cheap: last year it cost the NHS more than £450 million, more than any other drug. Dispatches: Trump’s Plan for the NHS, Antony Barnett reporting, Channel 4 2019
The NHS drug bill could be a lot more if it lost the power to drive down the price of the medicine supplies. ibid.
Could a trade deal with America affect the price we pay for our medicines? ibid.