The truth about IVF treatment

Futurist Topics - Health

Infertility clinics have become big business over the last two decades with 20% IVF growth every year, but the technology has failed to deliver. Explore this busy IVF site for more - many pages and video.

Read more: The truth about IVF treatment

Pain relief in cancer - analysis by Dr Patrick Dixon

Futurist Topics - Health

Relieving Pain - A DIY Guide

As a doctor who has cared for the dying I have often been asked to kill people. One reason is that the fear of pain is usually greater than the fear of death itself. All of us have relatives or friends who have died of cancer, and many of us have traumatic memories of a painful deterioration. What is scandalous is that in almost every case their suffering was largely preventable and unnecessary, inflicted not by the disease but by shocking medical ignorance, arrogance, complacency and pride.

Read more: Pain relief in cancer - analysis by Dr Patrick Dixon

Doctors playing God - the truth about health rationing

Futurist Topics - Health

The near hysterical reaction to calls for health rationing is not because people are interested in the health of the nation but because they are afraid of their own future, afraid of diseases such as cancer and afraid of old age. Who will be there to care for me when I am dying and alone?

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The Future of Medicine and Health Care

Futurist Topics - Health

A revolution is taking place at every level of society and doctors are struggling to keep up. Advances in medical knowledge are outstripping the capacity of a physician's brain, with most knowledge redundant in less than a decade. New drugs, new treatments, new technologies, new diseases - this means new medicine. Old models of care will not survive without radical change over the next decade.

Read more for videos, articles and comments on the future of medicine.

Read more: The Future of Medicine and Health Care

Alzheimer's disease - Exelon may slow illness

Futurist Topics - Health

Latest news summary - exelon and other treatments.

Exelon was launched in 1997 as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease, and received regulatory approval for Europe in May 1998 - but does it work?  Novartis says it delays the process by around six months.    Now Novartis want to conduct larger studies, having shown that the drug seems to slow down progression in some people in earlier trials of 3,300 people.

Read more: Alzheimer's disease - Exelon may slow illness

Genes and human behavior / personality / psychology

Futurist Topics - Health

The Nuffield Council of Bioethics is asking all of us what to do if scientists find genes for homosexuality, shyness, intelligence, addiction, violence or any other behavior tendency. The public consultation on genes and human behavior will run until July.

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New Medicine for Designer People

Futurist Topics - Health

The genetic revolution will completely redefine the meaning of health, transform disease management and totally wipe out many diseases. It will also create huge resource problems and urgent ethical dilemmas. The same tools to destroy cancer and cure diabetes could also permanently alter the human race. (Lecture outline by Dr Patrick Dixon - physician and futurist).

Read more: New Medicine for Designer People

Warfarin - truth about Warfarin use. Is Warfarin safe?

Futurist Topics - Health

Take care with Warfarin. Warfarin is an oral anticoagulant - in other words Warfarin is a drug taken by mouth used to prevent blood clotting.  It used to be known as a rat poison - give rats a lot of Warfarin and they suffer death from internal bleeding.

So did Donald Dewar, the most senior government figure in Scotland and member of the Labour Cabinet, who die on 11 October 2000, mourned across Briatin.  He suffered a fatal brain haemorrhage following a fall,  after recent surgery to replace an aortic heart valve.  The Warfarin successfully prevented clots on the valve, but the Warfarin also thinned his blood,  probably made the bleed worse and made it even more difficult for surgeons to operate.

Read more: Warfarin - truth about Warfarin use. Is Warfarin safe?