Bad medicine: rheumatoid arthritis

Inflaming the establishment is a civic duty, for medicine is a force not only for good but also for harm. The young learn to value experience only once they have gained it. In my experience there has been a dramatic decline in the severity of rheumatoid arthritis. Once common clinical signs such as ulna deviation are now rare, even on medical wards. Evidence supports my experience, with a halving of rheumatoid arthritis rates from 1955,1 and major declines in the rate of orthopaedic interventions.2 3 This reflects a change in the epidemiology and improvements in medical care. …