Intended for healthcare professionals

Views & Reviews From the Frontline

Saying no to chemotherapy

BMJ 2013; 346 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f4023 (Published 21 June 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;346:f4023
  1. Des Spence, general practitioner, Glasgow
  1. destwo{at}yahoo.co.uk

“Dad: eggs and salt are bad for you, teacher says.” “Nonsense: you mustn’t believe everything you are taught at school.” There is an art to poaching eggs, and I have one with salt every day for breakfast. I ignore health scares about food, because the more health conscious people are the more miserable they seem to become. Likewise, the benefits of screening or health check ups make no intuitive sense to me. So, on a personal level, I happily ignore the advice of “experts.” Risk is about judgment, and you can be too careful. Life is for living. …

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