Life is Sweet
BMJ 2010; 340 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c2791 (Published 26 May 2010) Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c2791- John Quin, consultant physician, Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton
- John.Quin{at}bsuh.nhs.uk
“To each age its defining disease . . . diabetes is the defining affliction of modern Western civilization”—so says Dan Hurley, an investigative journalist who has type 1 diabetes. Here he matches Michael Moore’s anger at institutional dither. This is not a self help guide; this is a counterblast of polemic from a man who knows the price he and we are paying. The Centers for Disease Control now projects that 33% of all American boys and 39% of all girls born in 2000 will develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime. Hurley’s message is stark—America is killing its youth. So what are we to do?
There was great optimism about diabetes in the early 1980s. We had a bounty of new developments—laser photocoagulation to treat proliferative retinopathy, home blood glucose monitoring, pancreatic transplantation, early insulin pumps (“dumb as a brick”), and talk everywhere of cure within a decade. But now we face a …
Log in
Log in using your username and password
Log in through your institution
Subscribe from £173 *
Subscribe and get access to all BMJ articles, and much more.
* For online subscription
Access this article for 1 day for:
£38 / $45 / €42 (excludes VAT)
You can download a PDF version for your personal record.