Left-right discrimination in medicine

doi:10.1136/bmj.a2906

Published 16 December 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a2906
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a2906

Editorials

Christmas 2008

Left-right discrimination in medicine

Are left handed people the last great neglected minority?

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

Right and left are so very confusing. Perceptually, distinguishingright and left is surprisingly difficult, as Gormley and colleagues’linked article shows (doi:10.1136/bmj.a2826).¹ Scientificallythe origins of a brain polymorphism that makes 90% of peopleuse their right hand for skilled activities but the other 10%use their left hand are unclear.² And socially, ethically, andeducationally, there is confusion over the needs and rightsof those people whom I sometimes describe as the last greatneglected minority—left handers.

Right handedness is so obvious a fact of life that few peoplerealise how unusual it is. All other species, except perhapschimpanzees,³ are made up half and half of right handers andleft handers. Nor is it coincidence that humans alone have language,and that language is mostly located in the left hemisphere,which controls the right hand. The left hemisphere processesinformation more quickly than the right . . . [Full text of this article]

Chris McManus, professor of psychology and medical education

¹ University College London, London WC1E 6BT

i.mcmanus@ucl.ac.uk

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This article has been cited by other articles:

Drake-Lee, A. (2009). It's all about coordination and laterality. BMJ 338: b34-b34 [Full text]
McManus, C. (2008). Left-right discrimination in medicine. BMJ 337: a2906-a2906 [Full text]

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