It would be fair to say that the BMJ tends towards less rather than more medicine. We’ve published a lot over the years on the risks of overtreatment and the problems of medicalisation. It’s not a bad default to have in times of economic hardship, although I hope we also do our bit to highlight evidence of undertreatment where it exists. In a recent letter David Oliver warned that, although ageing should not be routinely medicalised, there is a risk of “socialising” treatable problems in older people such as incontinence and falls (BMJ 2009;338:b1200).

With that proviso, I’m drawn to several articles this week that …