BMJ  2005;331 (12 November), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7525.0-f

Editor's choice

Nervous laughter

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

"`Tsunami not our problem,' say top docs." So ran the spoof headline at our strategy day last week. David Tovey, head of the BMJ's Clinical Evidence, was drawing his vision of a worst case tabloid future for the BMJ. (Other headlines on his flipchart masterpiece were "Name that rash and win an iPod," and "Cox 6 inhibitors work for everyone.")

We were laughing at the time, if somewhat nervously, but the tsunami-rejecting, insular view within medicine is real (we have heard it from readers at focus groups). It is also to some extent understandable. After all, what can we as individuals do about natural disasters in far off places? Even those who are there to help, like Richard Villar writing in this week's journal, express feelings of hopelessness (p 1151). So what's the point of reading about healthcare challenges in developing countries? How does it . . . [Full text of this article]

Fiona Godlee, editor

(fgodlee@bmj.com)


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