health and medicine

health and medicine

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Links: health and medicine news
Related tags: drugs, NHS, privatisation

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The Medicalisation of Everyday Life

A pill for social ills?

NHS doctor and science writer Ben Goldacre writes about bullshit medical research, bogus science reporting, the placebo effect, and everything else from postmodernism to evolutionary psychology, at his Bad Science blog. His critiques of the health system, pharmaceutical industry, and consumer health fads are extremely relevant - his focus on social factors, economic inequalities, and rejection of reductionist medicalising and/or individualising of what are essentially social/collective issues is pretty consistent with any critique class-struggle anarchists could produce. This is an edited extract from his book Bad Science.

When you’ve been working with bullshit for as long as I have, you start to spot recurring themes: quacks and the pharmaceutical industry use the exact same tricks to sell their pills, everybody loves a “science bit” - even if it’s wrong - and when people introduce pseudoscience into any explanation, it’s usually because there’s something else they’re trying desperately not to talk ab

Psychiatrists raise concern over torture involvement

Guantanamo

The US military is violating international and professional agreements forbidding doctors to partake in any sort of interrogation.

Contrary to stated positions of various medical and psychiatric profession associations, the US military is training psychiatrists to be involved in military interrogations.

NHS Unite members reject pay offer

Members of Unite, the UK's largest trade union and third largest in the NHS, have overwhelmingly voted to reject the government's 7.99% three-year pay deal and have voted for a ballot on industrial action.

Not long after the rejection of a pay deal by NHS workers in the GMB, 94.8% of Unite's health sector workers - including health visitors, hospital pharmacists, health care chaplains and members in many other health care professions and support services voted to turn down the three year offer worth less than 8%.

NHS strike looms as GMB reject pay deal

A threat of industrial action across the NHS intensified yesterday when health workers in the GMB union voted by an overwhelming majority to reject the three-year pay deal offered by the government.

If their decision is confirmed by the 450,000 NHS workers in Unison next week, the government may be forced to abandon its attempt to reach a long-term settlement.

African health worker gap catastrophic

Rob Ray looks at claims that a brain drain to West is crippling healthcare across the African continent, for Freedom Press

It has been revealed that the global shortfall in healthcare professionals has reached four million people – with one million needed in Africa alone. The figures were voiced at the Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, which opened in the Ugandan capital of Kampala on March 3rd.

Health and postal strikes in Trinidad

Patients awaiting treatment at San Fernando General Hospital

Health and postal workers in Trinidad and Tobago have been out on strike this week over hospital overcrowding and pay and conditions respectively.

Accident and Emergency staff carried out a mass sick day strike at San Fernando General Hospital on the 16th of April in protest at overcrowding. Overcrowding has gotten so bad at the hospital, that the asthma room, a room supposed to be dedicated for those awaiting emergency asthma treatment, is being used as a holding bay for those awaiting hospital beds.

UNISON to recommend pay cuts for health workers

Public sector union UNISON looks set to rubber stamp a three-year package of pay cuts for workers in the NHS.

Following a proposal of three years of sub-inflationary pay rises UNISON Head of Health, Karen Jennings, said that she would be "asking our executive to consider recommending this deal to members as a well-balanced package"

The proposed deal gives 2.75% in the first year.

In year 2 it gives 2.54%. Those on the lowest point will receive an increase of 5.7%.

Sicko, dir. Michael Moore, 2007 Film review – Tom Jennings

Tom Jennings’ review of Michael Moore’s new documentary tragi-comedy on the American health (dis)service

Body Politics by Tom Jennings

More strikes expected as Greece passes pension reform

Greek unions promise to continue protests against the government's pension reforms, passed on Thursday.

The pension reform raises the retirement age for women to 65 and workers in hazardous industries will have to work an extra two years. Many accuse the conservative government of going back on pre-election promises not to cut pension rights.

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