Rapid Responses to:
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Rapid Responses: Rapid Responses published:
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![[Read Rapid Response]](/icons/misc/sectionDOWN.gif)
Adios
- Sri S Varman (30 July 2004)
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Vale
- David de Bhál (30 July 2004)
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A Global Tribute To Professor Richard Smith CBE
- Joseph . C . Obi (30 July 2004)
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It's not goodbye
- Richard Horton (30 July 2004)
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Were you ever respectable?
- michael f farrell (30 July 2004)
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Au revoir to an hairy man
- John Hopkins (30 July 2004)
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Keep on Richard Smith!
- Matiram Pun (30 July 2004)
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I hope the best for you in your new jop
- AK Al-Sheikhli (30 July 2004)
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Keep it rocking dude!
- Thilo Kober (30 July 2004)
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A true inspiration
- Jonathan Underhill (30 July 2004)
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FAIREST ONE OF THEM ALL.
- Pal Rita (31 July 2004)
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You will be missed by many patients
- Millie Kieve (1 August 2004)
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Your passion shall not pass ...
- Joanne C. Roberts (1 August 2004)
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Repeated travelling and repeated arriving are more cosier.
- Dr.Naseem A. Qureshi MD, IMAPA, LMIPS (1 August 2004)
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Glad to know that this is not goodbye forever.
- Mirza Muminovic (1 August 2004)
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A Sad Departure
- Jay Ilangaratne (2 August 2004)
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A Personal Tribute to a Retiring Editor from a Chinese Colleague
- Tsung O. Cheng, Washington, D.C. 20037 (3 August 2004)
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Re: A Sad Departure
- Sudarsan Sundararajan (3 August 2004)
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May the good work done by you continue to inspire future editors of BMJ
- Dinesh K Sharma (3 August 2004)
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In Praise of Richard Smith : An Outstanding Editor
- Azra Qureshi, Azra Qureshi (3 August 2004)
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Richard, BMJ West Africa will miss you !
- Joseph Ana (5 August 2004)
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Re: In Praise of Richard Smith : An Outstanding Editor
- Rita Pal (5 August 2004)
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Re: In Praise of Richard Smith : An Outstanding Editor
- Alexander H Russell (5 August 2004)
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a masterly signoff! good luck!
- Douglas J Carnall (5 August 2004)
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Misplaced influence
- Anne Savage (7 August 2004)
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Thanks to Dr Smith - not great, just alright?
- Sam J Oddie (10 August 2004)
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Keep up the good work
- Rupert Gude (14 August 2004)
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Sri S Varman, Director of Surgery Cleveland 4163
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The truest friends must part they say, The fondest hearts must never, for friendship will live for ever! Dear Editor, You have been the Editor of BMJ through the years of information explosion. The BMJ of the past decorated the office tables of a few doctors or filled their waste paper baskets. But, todays BMJ reaches doctors and others in places where one may not know even existed on this planet.The credit must be yours, atleast partly. Thank you very much Sir and Good Bye Competing interests: None declared |
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David de Bhál, Genreal Practitioner Brisbane Australia
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As one of those who now reads the BMJ first every week, thank you for all you have done. I for one will miss your iconoclasm. David de Bhal Competing interests: None declared |
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Joseph . C . Obi, Professor Of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Research ; College Of Natural Medicine , Larnarca , Cyprus , European Union . (www.CollegeNaturalMedicine.org)
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I hereby humbly proclaim the 30th of July 2004 to be a 'Contrite Day Of Professional Mourning' ; in 'Profound Memory' of the 'Greatest Medical Editor' that the world has ever known. 'Academic Medicine' will never (ever) be the same again. Competing interests: Professor Joseph Chikelue Obi MBBS MD MPH DSc FRIPH FACAM is also the Chairman of the General Wellness Assembly (GWA); an International Professional Body for Independent Wellness Consultants . He humbly invented the 'Omnipill' ; and warmly believes that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS) can sometimes be adequately controlled (not cured) , using Advanced Wellness Interventions. |
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Richard Horton, Editor The Lancet
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Dear Richard - You inspired, urged, argued, transformed, maddened, cried, lectured, invented, hugged, led, travelled, shouted, drank, wrote, touched, provoked, and laughed your way through 25 glorious years at the BMJ. It was Stephen Lock with his passionate interest in socks that first enticed me into medical journalism. It was Drummond Rennie and his amazing gift for undimmed outrage that sowed the seed of idealism. But it was your ability to get things done that showed me how journals are not merely spaces for debate, but actual engines for social and global change. Some of us cannot quite believe that you are going. A few of us certainly can't understand why you are going to where it is that you are going. I, for one, certainly think that you will be back. You love the world of writing too much to say goodbye forever. Come back and sting us all into action again some day soon. Meanwhile, good luck. You survived the BMA and that deserves a seat next to St Peter. And, finally, welcome Kamran to the editor's chair. The BMJ has a fitting and talented successor to guide it through the next months and beyond. I, and The Lancet, welcome you and wish you well. Richard Competing interests: None declared |
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michael f farrell, psychiatrist Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London SE5 8A
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Richard Just a note to say thanks. Remember you as the young guy who wrote those interesting articles on prisons and other nasty things that never got mentioned in the BMJ, way back then. Never thought you would survive with your irreverent approach to all things sacred to the BMA and BMJ. But survive you did and thrive and you brought a lot of fresh changes and debate and sort of politics into the health media. Sometime gullible politics and missing the mark but always trying and always ready to comeback and try again. Your christmas party and the shed loads of booze and late nights in basement restaurants are now a dim and distant memory. You have done well lad and we wish you the best on your next journey and hope you keep a compass to hand, I trust your capacity to find your way. Your good will, charm and personable ways are second to none, I am sure I speak for all when I say that it feels like a good mate is moving on and we wish him the best whatever he gets up to. So take care and keep on fighting the good fight. Michael Farrell Competing interests: None declared |
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John Hopkins, GP Newton Aycliffe DL5 4SE
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Dear Dr Smith, With the vanity of all rapid responders, I’ve taken up a lot of bandwith grumbling about the BMJ, but I will be one of the many who miss reading what you have to say. What you have done is to give the BMJ a human face. With complete honesty you have written about your dad, your brother, about wide open spaces and black dogs. Afraid of no-one, you have railed against the fact we live in a fallen world. And perhaps there is the rub. Editors and Chief Executives need to be what used to be called smooth men. As an hairy man you are undoubtedly at your best when writing. Perhaps Richard Horton should offer you a weekly column. John Hopkins Competing interests: None declared |
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Matiram Pun, III Year student of Medicine [MBBS] Institute of Medicine ,Tribhuwan University,Nepal
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Great Richard Smith!I actully came to know many things about the history from your "Total Recall!".The lessons from the history you have discussed are of immense value. The student BMJ is definitely grown up and is my favourite one. The outgoing elders should not feel free from their responsibility because they are the ones who have trailed the history , understand the present and can read the future .The generation going on and the future definitely need the guidance and wise words from the persons like you. The research, ethical consideration and more than that the free online access to the BMJ are definitely jewels you have offered around the world .The another thing you talked is about your involvement in the board of the Public Library of Science, which,as you said, wants all research to be available to all for free and will in the autumn launch the new journal PLoS Medicine.This sounds Great for me.Keep on Smith ! Matiram Pun,Institute of Medicine Nepal Competing interests: None declared |
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AK Al-Sheikhli, Psychiatrist Nuneaton,CV11 5HX,UK
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30th,July,2004 Dear Dr.Smith,we are going to miss you,but I hope the best for you in your new jop,to ride the bicycle with a helmet or not I hope you will enjoy your new jop, Regards, AK.Al-Sheikhli Competing interests: None declared |
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Thilo Kober, Co-ordinator, Cochrane Haematological Malignancies Group (CHMG) CHMG Editorial Base, 3rd Floor, Kerpener Str.15, 50924, Cologne, Germany
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Dear Richard I am just small fry in the scheme of things but am sure your departure from the British Medical Journal (BMJ) will be greatly missed by many "Cochranites" around the world. The good relationship between the Cochrane Collaboration (CC) and the British Medical Journal over many years, must be examplary for true support by a great biomedical journal towards a bunch of decentralised, highly motivated individuals and institutions. With your help and influence, the Cochrane Collaboration gained considerable amount of standing in the global scientific and medical community, often still characterised by suspicion and amazement towards systematic reviews based on CC principles. I wish you good health, and may your future ambitions and dreams all come true. Bon voyage! Sincerely yours, Thilo Kober Competing interests: None declared |
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Jonathan Underhill, Assistant Director, Education and Development National Prescribing Centre l693gf
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Dear Dr Smith I wanted to wish you the very best of luck and success while thanking you for your inspirational and provocative editorship of the BMJ. The king is dead, long live the king (or vive la republique, whichever way you wish to consider it) Yours is truly a hard act to follow Best wishes Jonathan Underhill Competing interests: None declared |
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Pal Rita, Editor www.nhs-exposed.com
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I often wonder why Richard Smith decided to leave the BMJ. He is really an institution in himself. Not that he took my advice about his fashion sense but nevertheless, for us mere mortals he has always been rather entertaining. Richard has always felt, he is the "fairest one of them all". The problem with Richard though is that while everyone at the BMJ has always been a fan, we the audience have often wondered about his ability to be fair. In the old days ( remember them Richard!), he was never daring, stayed on the safe side of libel and then wallowed in the safe waters of the BMA. Jay Illangaratne took Richard to an employment tribunal not so long ago. Jay being Richard's nemesis. Anyone wishing to read it can go to http://www.employmentappeals.gov.uk/uploads/EAT1025012432003/index.htm. Then there were Richard's admissions that he was a whistleblower. He said in one of his emails dated 2.1.04 "I entirely accept that I'm a highly privileged whistleblower but I'm not just a theoretical one. I've "blown the whistle" about 10 times a year for the past five years--and a few times before that. I find myself embroiled in lots of never ending correspondence and legal actions. Maybe I've "blown the whistle" more than anybody else in medicine". Ofcourse, Richard is right, he is indeed a highly privilaged whistleblower. Indeed, my only criticism of him is that he has never been overly supportive of doctors who have whistleblown, choosing instead to be rather suspicious of them constantly. Richard has his problems - one of them is to be overly judgmental. But then again he is the editor. I would just like to remind him of a number of postings he considered libellous. He was convinced he would get sued so I published them instead. Just like to say Rich - it has been four years - no libel action yet :). One of us was right - I wonder who it was :). This is just a simple example to show that Richard can indeed get it " wrong" sometimes. I would though like to wish him well. He has always been completely wrong about me. Ofcourse, some of us have tolerate his snide little remarks and views but he remains a relic of the BMJ - old, wise, needs a fashion revamp and a Gucci glasses - well you could always try it at your next job. In the interests of fairness, perhaps the BMJ would like to publish this posting. Kind Regards Dr Rita Pal www.nhs-exposed.com www.generalmedicalcouncil.co.uk Competing interests: None declared |
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Millie Kieve, Chair APRIL (Adverse Psychiatric Reactions Information Link Essex England RM4 1UA
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Dear Richard Smith You will be missed by many patients and supporters of the charity APRIL. We thank you for your untiring efforts to increase awareness about the harms as well as the benefits of medicines. Your concerns about the lack of research into harms caused by medication, your dialogue about the need for reforms in education, your determination to prevent the publication of ghost written material and flawed clinical trial statistics has made an important contribution towards patient safety. I have received thanks from many patients suffering from ADRs or iatrogenic illness, to whom I had sent BMJ articles. They inform me that by quoting the BMJ they can convince their doctors to listen to new evidence. Clinicians who insisted a patient should continue with treatment are persuaded to gradually withdraw, stop, or change the treatment. You were supportive of the first conference I organised in 2001 “Adverse Psychiatric Reactions to Medication” which increased awareness. Together with my successful appeal to the GMC to include ADRs in their guidelines on medical education, “ Tomorrow’s Doctors”, this conference proved effective in the progress towards reducing avoidable harms. At the conference I am organising, (London, November 4th), I know that because of your enlightened attitude, medical journalists will attend and report the proceedings. Helped by your influence, those of us who represent and speak out for the patients are no longer considered irrelevant outsiders.. We are now respected for the work we do at the centre of change for the good. Thank you Richard Millie Kieve Founder/Chair APRIL (Adverse Psychiatric Reactions Information Link) www.april.org.uk Competing interests: I represent patients and collate anecdotal and medical data about psychiatric ADRs, to all kinds of medicines and anaesthetics. I provide information about psychiatric ADRs on the charity web site www.april.org.uk |
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Joanne C. Roberts, Hospital medicine Everett, Washington USA 98201
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Richard: It is difficult to accept that nearly 15 years has passed since you returned from Stanford to lead the BMJ. ("That Brit is more Californian than most native Californians," it was said of you.) It is even more difficult to try to count the changes that the BMJ has undergone during your years as its editor. One simple but poignant example is simply the scene of the editorial offices then and now -- from private offices of quiet formality to a communal gymnasium of energy and passion -- all of it perfectly reflected in the BMJ each week. I am glad you are leaving while your passion remains. Doubtless we shall hear from you regularly. And even more doubtless, we know your voice shall remain as wisely rebellious as it has been all these years. (By the way, when is a rebel old enough to be called a "curmudgeon"?) Best wishes to a marvelous colleague and a dear friend, Joanne. Competing interests: None declared |
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Dr.Naseem A. Qureshi MD, IMAPA, LMIPS, Medical Director(A), Director CME&R Buraidah Mental Health Hospital, Postcode:2292, Saudi Arabia
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Dear Richard, I am pleased to read this editorial in which you have nicely summarized the developments that took place in BMJ during your 25-year tenure. Furthermore, you have also very cleverly identified the vistas where your successor has to work hard in order to further improve the international image of BMJ. Distance as a barrier to rapid access to medical information is removed but not completely, which is attributed to lack of computers in poor communities globally. Conservatism is giving way but slowly to liberalism. The cover and diverse contents of a medical journal by convention must have thought provoking qualities among readers-medical and nonmedical alike together with information that could easily be applied to the clinical practice. The journal should balance the interests both of the patients and the profession while minimizing the interest of the bussiness industry. Moreover, public funded research should be published in open access journal of which number should increase in future. The other identified issues that bmj has to tackle in future are colonialism and neo-colonialism, editors rights protection, wider role of reviewers, peer review, authorship, conflict of interest and ethical perspectives. Finally, I would like to emphasize that repeated travelling with repeated arriving is more rosier than travelling once but never arriving. Reference: Richard Smith. Travelling but never arriving: reflections of a retiring editor. BMJ 2004; 329: 242-244 Competing interests: None declared |
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Mirza Muminovic, Medical student University of Sarajevo
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Dear Richard, I must say it was quite a surprise when I first read that you were leaving the BMJ. When I met you two years ago (during my stay at BMJ as Clegg Scholar), I was truly amazed by your positive energy, great passion and open approach. Most of all, I admired your vision and devotion to universal free access to scientific research which is higly appreciated in many countries worldwide, including Bosnia. Very often I remember you as the Judge (with the wig) for the "Trial: Access to Essential Health Information" during The Health Information Forum Debate 2002. Although the Judge wig made you look quite funny, I realized why it was BMJ who helped catalyze the open access movement. Simply it was you who realized how wonderful is to break down the barriers to health information. "Like air and water, health information is essential", the motion of the trial said. It is still hard for me to believe that you are leaving the BMJ, but here is just a wee note to wish you all the very best in your future activities. Glad to know that this is not goodbye forever as you are not going far away from medical writing. Last and not the least, I am glad to know that you left a great team of wonderful people at BMJ who will take care that we don't miss you so much every Friday onwards. Thank you Richard. Best regards from Sarajevo, Mirza Muminovic Competing interests: I was BMJ's Clegg Scholar in 2002 and I have been StudentBMJ International Advisor since 2002. |
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Jay Ilangaratne, Founder Medical-Journals.com
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I have no difficulty in joining others, wishing Dr Smith well in his new ventures after leaving the BMJ. However, it is unclear as to why he is leaving the BMJ. One might be further curious given the title of his editorial indicates that he is retiring [1]. I find the tone of his recent Editor's Choice of 10th July 2004[2] interesting, not least because of his last ditch attempt to resurrect editorial freedom to the full, but his assertion that “journals should be on the side of the powerless not the powerful”. Whilst such views are welcoming even from an outgoing editor, it is unfortunate that Dr Smith chose to reserve such expressions to his final tenure at the BMJ. Indeed, it was only about four years ago that Dr Smith juxtaposed a rapid response [3] with a piece I wrote, which was critical of the BMA. In fact, Dr Smith’s said rapid response [3] was preceded by a personal email forewarning me that he would be citing one of my rapid responses in his then proposed response. It would not be wrong to say that I have had a significant amount of email from BMJ staff, other than Dr Smith, in relation to my previous critical expressions of the BMA. Regrettably, Dr Smith chose to revive the “Bores” issue about two years later; referring to his original rapid response [3], in his editorial [4] he reclassified those who write frequently as “problem children”. Just as myself, Dr Smith will know that his “Bores” rapid response [3] has been, among other things, the subject matter of employment tribunal proceedings between us, which have not been concluded as yet. Hence, Dr Smith’s current thinking, “journals should be on the side of the powerless not the powerful”, has unfortunately come rather late in the day to benefit some of us who have relentlessly tried to highlight the bad, the ugly, and the nasty side of “the powerful” like the BMA. Had Dr Smith applied his current wisdom to be "on the side of the powerless" in year 2000,then he might not have acted as he did in relation to electronic criticisms involving the BMA. References [1]Smith R. Travelling but never arriving: reflections of a retiring editor. BMJ 2004;329:242-244 [2]Editor’s Choice. bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/329/7457/0-g [3] Smith R. Bores on the web. http://bmj.com/cgi/eletters/320/7250/1660/a#8665(accessed 01 August 2004) [4] Smith R. Twenty thousand conversations. BMJ 2002;324:1171-1172 Competing interests: See Text. I belong to the "powerless" side. |
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Tsung O. Cheng, Professor of Medicine George Washington University, Washington, D.C. 20037
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Dear Richard: It took me by surprise to read that you are retiring from chief editorship of BMJ after a quarter of a century of brilliant service [1]. You are too young to retire. But let me be among the first of many of your dear Chinese colleagues to pay a personal tribute to you. I first met you in person in Beijing, China in June 1994 at the International Conference on Biomedical Journals. At the conference I gave a lecture entitled "An Acronymous Proposal: Spell It Out The First Time". You apparently were so impressed by what I said that you invited me to write an editorial on acronymophilia [2], a term we jointly invented. The following year I visited you in your BMJ office during a Visiting Professorship at the University of Oxford and a Distinguished Senior Lectureship at the Royal Brompton Hospital. I still remembered the rackful of all the colorful neckties behind your desk in your office and had a photograph taken of you standing proudly next to the rack. If your Editorial Board would allow me, I like to show that photograph. You mentioned the infamous publisher Robert Maxwell who became "rich by selling value added by others (researchers) at high prices and keeping their costs to a minimum" [1]. But I respected him for what he achieved; among many books he published I like to mention two: my book, entitled "The International Textbook of Cardiology"[3] in 1986 and 1987 and "Speeches and Writings by the Post-Mao Chinese Leader Deng Xiaoping" [4] in 1984. The launching of the bimonthly Chinese edition of BMJ in May 1998 had meant so much not only to my medical colleagues in China but also to me personally. To me, it was, and still is, the greatest educational tool available for learning all the Chinese names for English medical terms, diseases, tests, operative procedures and medical equipment. It is far better than any of the Chinese-English medical dictionaries in existence, because it is always current, accurate, and, last but not the least, official. And, finally, let us not say goodbye or Zai Jian which in Chinese means 'see you again'. So, till we meet again, let us keep in close touch and continue our fight against this epidemic of acronymophilia. Tsung O. References 1. Smith R: Travelling but never arriving: reflections of a retiring editor. BMJ 2004;329:242-244. 2. Cheng TO: Acronymophilia: the exponential growth of the use of acronyms should be resisted. BMJ 1994;309:683-684. 3. Cheng TO: The International Textbook of Cardiology. New York/Oxford: Pergamon Press. 1986 & 1987, pp. 1299. 4. Deng Xiaoping: Speeches & Writings. Interview on Current Topics. New York/Oxford: Pergamon Press. 1984, pp. 100. Competing interests: None declared |
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Sudarsan Sundararajan, Consulting physician Ranganayakulapet,Nellore, A.P., India , 524001.
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Hi Dr.Smith,
I am indebted to your stewardship to have brought a human face to BMJ,a change increasingly being followed by other journals now.
Yes,you couldn't have said it better..that medical journals for the numerous clinicians like me,whose main focus is in patient care,are for improving our skills and applicable knowledge in caring for our patients.We are too naive in taking these "Original researchers",their originals and their statistical tools at their face and not seeing through them,for how useless these are,mostly that is.
Yes,often times, these publications are for their own survival(these researchers)and the those bright MBAs who market them for a huge profit,which is their only motive.
Thanks again to you,Dr.Smith,for reminding us to be skeptics and do like what Mr.Bertrand Russell,the famous mathematician once said,leave a question mark,once in a while,at the end of our hard held beliefs.
Hoping your tribe will suerly get cloned more and more...
Competing interests: None declared |
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Dinesh K Sharma, Senior Medical Officer ESI Hospital, Majitha Road Amritsar-143001, India
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Dear Richard Smith, It was in year 2001 that I bought a computer and obtained an Internet connection. I had graduated as a medical doctor about 20 years ago and had only occasionally read old editions of BMJ in my Medical College Library. However the Internet connection helped me access bmj.com and I became a regular visitor to its website. Sitting in your high profile office in BMJ building you may not be able to appreciate the extent to which the free availability of bmj.com has helped the doctors in third world. I am concerned at the decision of bmj.com to start charging for access to its website. I hope while implementing its decision BMJ will keep the interests of medical and paramedical personnel from developing countries in mind. The role of medical journals to inform, educate, generate debate and set agendas is undeniable. After the conferences are over and delegates have returned to their homes, the discussions continue on the pages (or web pages) of journals like BMJ. In this context the endeavor of bmj.com to set up the ‘Rapid Response’ opportunity is well appreciated. One wonders how many of the rapid responses published on bmj.com (despite their linguistic or technical shortcomings) would have been published in the paper edition. This forum is an excellent medium to carry forward the debate and the number of responses which bmj.com receives bears a testimony to its acceptability and effectiveness. During the period of your editorship BMJ has also reflected sensitivity to health problems that the developing countries face. It is not that a country as big as India lacks good medical journals but we are short of journals that have a holistic approach to health care and a focus on general practice and BMJ fulfills this requirement of GPs in my country. I am confident that after you have left BMJ to continue your good work with Public Library of Science, BMJ will continue the innovative work started during your editorship. It means it will not only have to keep pace with the ‘IT revolution in medical journals’ but will have to continue to lead this change. The journals are beginning to come out the confines of medical libraries. Their journey to desk/laptops of physicians needs to be facilitated. The impact of availability of information may not manifest immediately however it is already beginning to change quality of health care in developing countries. The ‘Medical Journals industry’ would certainly need leaders like yourself to come out of the shackles of ‘profit making mindset’ especially when you are helping save human lives or minimize their sufferings. Competing interests: None declared |
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Azra Qureshi, Health Sciences Librarian Aga Khan University,POB 3500,, Azra Qureshi
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In Praise of Richard Smith : An Outstanding Editor Editor of BMJ for a quarter century Richard Smith ; BMJ is the msot popular medical journal because of you. I have loved your writing style and wish I could write as well and your thought process too is novel to me. You have navigated the BMJ in the most interesting and challenging times with great success and innovation. Launching "Health in South Asia" issue BMJ became real everyone's favorite journal. I wish you all success in your new venture as "Public Library of Science" board member of which I'm a signatory. We look foward to autumn for launching of PLOS journal. With great admiration and respect. Azra Qureshi Librarian, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan Competing interests: None declared |
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Joseph Ana, Commissioner for Health, Government of Cross River State of Nigeria. Ministry of Health headquarters, Calabar, Nigeria
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BMJ West Africa , a local edition of the BMJ, will miss Richard Smith more than most. He encouraged us to start in 1996 as BMJ Nigeria edition,saw us progress to the West African edition one year later. He encouraged us to start the annual Health writing skills workshop in year 2000, alternating from Nigeria to Ghana. This year we are holding the 8th workshop in Abuja(7th September) and Lagos(29th september, Nigeria. Richard was the moderator in all previous workshops and we pray that he will , maybe for the last time, do the same this year. Without his unstinting support the model BMJWA Health Information resource centre, Calabar, Nigeria would not have taken off in June 2003. This product that combines paper and electronic health information is unique in all of Africa ( visit www.bmjwa.com ) For us in West Africa it will be very, very difficult to fill the space he leaves. He took personal interest in our local edition and nutured it to its present status as the foremost peer reviewed journal in the region. We wish and pray for more success in his next adventure, next challenge. Competing interests: Joseph Ana was until recently managing editor of BMJ West Africa edition ( 1995-2004). On 30th June 2004 he took up post as comissioner for Health in the government of Cross River State of Nigeria with Calabar as capital city. He is responsible for the planning and implementation of health policies for 3 million people. |
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Rita Pal, Editor www.nhs-exposed.com
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Steady on old chap. It is important for Richard to be able to get through the regulation BMA door without his head getting in the way. Richard is "alright" but I would not go as far as "outstanding". I find the American Editors better in terms of personality and they are rather more open. Richard swings from being a rebel to conforming and his journal often shows his inability to decide what side he wishes to bat on. I would call Richard a " closet rebel". I say this with many years of experience. When I first suggested a coloured front page of the BMJ, he huffed and puffed. A few months later, the journal ended up being coloured. That is a simple example really. Richard does more huffing and puffing about libel and research misconduct than anything else. In my view, he should be more adventurous,more dynamic and perhaps the younger doctors would be tempted to read the BMJ. As it is,most of the younger doctors tend to use it at chip wrappers on their oncall nights. Either that or they hang out on DNUK. That makes the BMJ visited by either psychiatrists from Nuneaton or GPs. As an editor Richard could have done more to attract the junior audience. He still has not managed that with the BMJ. I doubt his successor will manage it either. The BMJ seems to always remain someway stuck in the realms of " what the average GP wants". Perhaps it should cater for the new doctors so that it serves to educate them. Dr Rita Pal Competing interests: None declared |
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Alexander H Russell, artist/writer/philosopher WC1N 1PE
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Now Richard Smith had departed the BMJ does that mean the end of the 'AIDS' debate? I have recently noticed that there have been no critiques of the 'HIV/AIDS' hypothesis in Rapid Responses since Smith retired. I know that both Tony Delamotte and Richard Smith want to keep the 'HIV/AIDS' debate open even if Nature, Science, The Lancet and New Sientist do not. It is essential that the BMJ Rapid Responses keep the 'AIDS' debate going so we can find out what 'AIDS' really is and what really causes it.
Competing interests: None declared |
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Douglas J Carnall, general practitioner Hackney, E8 1AJ
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Affairs at the BMJ don't take up as much of my time as they once did, but I've been following your move and I wish you well. Your contribution to the science of journalology over the past 25 years is unrivalled and I know you will continue to reflect on the gut issues in scientific communication whatever your formal job title in future. I trust the bucks you stash from your new day job will fuel plenty of time for participation in PLOS. Your move to the private sector worries me not: good work is good work however the government of the day decides to pay for it, and doctors know this. Don't let those business types try to limmo you off your bike! Keep riding, and I'll see you down the road some day. --Douglas Competing interests: None declared |
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Anne Savage, retired London NW3 5RA
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Richard Smith is wrong. Back in the fifties and sixties we read the BMJ avidly for information and often it changed our practice. I recollect one evening when my husband and I,reading our recently arrived journals, sat up simultaneously and said 'That's Mrs X' Mrs X was a lady we shared and whose 'neurosis' we had disputed. The article was on 'abdominal angina' and that was ,indeed, what she had and was treated for with a bypass and recovered. On another occasion we discussed O'Driscoll's article on the Active Management of Labour for the whole of the hour long 'midder meeting'. As a result practice WAS changed, partograms adopted world wide and fewer women had to endure three day labours. The number of 'publications' is now the foremost measure that governs the prospects of a trainee and the grants given to a research department. Targets matter. An ambitious researcher or head of department will ask 'what's the editor on about now'. At the moment it is smoking so in come the pieces proving smoking kills babies, makes you infertile, gives you neck ache. Ingrowing toenails next? A few years ago it was prenatal interuterine influences, but that doesn't seem so popular now.The public seems to have grown wise to this fashion-related bias and fails to take any notice of warnings, nor do most 'grass roots' doctors. The second undesirable influence is 'patient's choice'. In the sixties we had a flourishing domiciliary obstetric practice, a community hospital and plenty of beds in our local hospital. We could offer patients a true choice, to give birth, be treated or die at home or in the hospital of their choice. That has largely gone. Patient choice on treatment has led to the incorporation of a number of unassessed alternative treatments. More seriously it has led many to be seduced by the 'you don't want those nasty chemicals, why not try our natural cure' advertisments. The NHS cannot be blamed for poor results for cancer treatment, kidney transplants or even obstetric outcomes unless the part played by patient preference and behaviour is discussed. This the BMJ has consistently failed to do. The present journal consists largely of dinner-table chatter elevated to the cybersphere. Practically every article comes from an academic unit and, fun as it may be to debate the problems of social care for the urban elderly with an Outer Mongolian professor it does seem a terrible waste of time and paper. For the sake of future generations I hope the BMJ will be restored to its proper place, as one of the foremost MEDICAL journal. Competing interests: None declared |
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Sam J Oddie, Locum Consultant Neonatologist Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh EH16 4SU
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Thank you indeed "Rich"! I've enjoyed the diversity of the rapid responses to your piece similarly, but not as much as, I have enjoyed your extraordinary editorship. Obviously you do yourself a great disservice in your piece. The journal started good and has become an awful lot better. Truly it is a leader and unlike any other journal I come across has some sense of vision. Your innovations are numerous, powerful and irrevocable. The BMJ is now a mover of medicine rather than simply a mirror. All patients, doctors and other professionals owe you a debt for it. You will be missed. Can we not persuade you to change your mind? Sam Oddie Competing interests: None declared |
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Rupert Gude, General Practitioner Abbey Surgery, Tavistock, Devon, PL19 9EL
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Dear Richard, Many thanks for your fantastic enthusiasm not just as editor but since you joined the BMJ so long ago. There were some outstanding series, the ones on the prisons at a time before we had effective and outspoken Inspectors of Prisons, on the effects of nuclear war at a time when Thatcher and Reagen were upping the stakes and we were deploying cruise missiles around the countryside, about the power of the tobacco companies when the Minister of Health from a tobacco town was happy to be seen smoking and about the appalling underfunding of the NHS when Maggie Thatcher was starving the NHS of justly and reasonably required resources with appalling longterm consequences that the Labour Govt is at last trying to correct. There are many others since and the special issues are excellent. The introduction of the ABC section and an expanded opportunity for primary care articles , article for debate and many other features have made the BMJ a joy to read. Your passion for unfettered access to journals and maintaining high standards is admirable. I look forward to hearing your voice raised against the Establishment with all their undeclared competing interests. You leave the BMJ in the best of health and I am sure it will continue to be a damn good read. with best wishes for the future Rupert Gude Competing interests: I have admiration for all those who are willing to raise their head above the parapet and declare the emperor has no clothes |
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