Ethics

Weight is a Stigma and a Barrier to Care

High rates of obesity around the world have garnered sustained attention and efforts from medical, public health, and scientific communities. Simultaneously , scholars across diverse social science disciplines have studied the pervasive societal stigma faced by individuals with higher body weight. Known as weight stigma, individuals with higher weight face numerous negative stereotypes, prejudice, and unfair treatment across multiple facets of everyday life including healthcare.

Modern Medicine – Issue 4 2021

Unpacking the Mind-body Connection to Health

“According to the mind–body or biopsychosocial paradigm, which supersedes the older biomedical model, there is no real division between mind and body because of networks of communication that exist between the brain and neurological, endocrine and immune systems.” – Oakley Ray, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Psychiatry and Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University, USA.

Modern Medicine – Issue 3 2021

Commoditisation in Healthcare-Threat or Opportunity?

That commoditisation of healthcare is occurring is well documented. Specialist centres now bundle services into diseaseor treatment-based products (eg, pain, cancer, fertility, easier surgery). Such ‘commodities’ are widely advertised and promoted to both public and primary care doctors. While the occurrence of commoditisation in healthcare is irrefutable, its desirability is an area of intense and diverse opinion.

Modern Medicine – Issue 2 2021

Music is Medicine for the Body

Researchers are exploring how music therapy can improve health outcomes among a variety of patient populations. Recent medical studies seem to confirm what the ancient Greeks believed; music seems to slow heart rate, lower blood pressure, and reduce levels of stress hormones. It can also provide some relief to heart attack and stroke victims and patients undergoing surgery.

Modern Medicine – Issue 1 2021

When a Doctor Becomes a Patient

Doctors are perceived to be benevolent, knowledgeable and powerful in matters of life and death. However, a complex concept of reverse hierarchy and role disorientation can take place when a doctor becomes a patient. Because doctors dedicate much of their lives to ensuring the well-being of patients, they may have a skewed perception of their personal health risks and fail to acknowledge that they, too, can fall victim to illness.

Modern Medicine – Issue 4 2020

Patent Protection in Times of Crisis

In recent years, globalisation has forced a deeper appreciation of the relationship between intellectual property law and global health. The threat of an emergent avian bird flu pandemic led to calls for Roche to relax patent restrictions on oseltamivir, a drug with potential efficacy against bird influenza. In the context of the fall 2001 anthrax attacks, the US government faced pressure to break Bayer’s patent on ciprofloxacin in order to increase availability of the drug. Such situations have generated intense debate over the value of patent protection amidst health crisis.

Modern Medicine – Issue 2 2020

Making too Many Decisions in a Day
Leads to Decision Fatigue

Every day doctors make repeated decisions about patient care. Such decisions typically involve careful deliberation of the costs, risks and benefits of a given course of action. An important insight from behavioural theory is that careful consideration of pros and cons in decision making is mentally taxing, leading people to shy away from engaging in cognitively demanding reasoning when tired.

Modern Medicine – Issue 1 2020

Do Placebos Have a Place in the Therapeutic Toolbox?

Placebos are substances and interventions that lack specific efficacy in treating a patient’s condition based on the inherent properties of the treatment. Placebo effects refer to neurobiological and clinical changes produced by a placebo administration or active treatment given in a certain context. Assuming that placebo effects can be harnessed to achieve better outcomes than usual medical care, whether and how doctors may recommend treatments that lack any specific efficacy remains controversial.

Modern Medicine – Issue 6 2019