Spring awakening

doi:10.1136/bmj.39485.491493.C2

BMJ 2008;336:448 (23 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.39485.491493.C2

Views & Reviews

Spring awakening

Trevor Trueman, sessional GP, Malvern, Worcester

oromiasg@waitrose.com

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

Like the trees at this time of year, I am waking up. My viewswere already becoming more extreme with age, but a string ofevents last autumn stirred me, and I am coming out of hibernation.

Doctors used to make a big difference. The nuclear test bantreaties of 1963 and 1996 were partly the result of lobbyingby the medical profession. Reports from the Medical CampaignAgainst Nuclear Weapons and the Medical Association for thePrevention of War (both now part of Medact) resulted in a 1983report from the BMA that changed the United Kingdom’spolicy on nuclear defence. The health professions have a proudhistory of standing up for powerless and abused people. Forexample, a programme on Channel 4 television in October calledThe Relief of Belsen showed how doctors, nurses, and medicalstudents struggled to save life and dignity amid gross physicalhorror more . . . [Full text of this article]