Richard Hurley

Can doctors reduce harmful medical overuse worldwide

A US campaign to help doctors decide which interventions are often unnecessary and wasteful is catching on worldwide, reports Richard Hurley

Bad blood: gay men and blood donation.

Some developed countries now accept blood donations from men who have ever had sex with men, but most do not. Richard Hurley asks why

How Ukraine is tackling Europe’s worst HIV epidemic

Despite entrenched corruption and police interference, community organisations lead the fight against HIV among drug injectors and sex workers in Ukraine, reports Richard Hurley

The "Oscars of medicine" are coming to New Delhi: who will you nominate as a hero of Indian healthcare?

We’ll be celebrating all the best in Indian healthcare at our inaugural awards ceremony on 20 September 2014, writes Richard Hurley. So submit your nominations now at http://awards.bmjindia.com—and good luck!

Who cares for the nine million displaced people of Syria

The civil war that started in 2011 has forced millions of Syrians to flee their homes, many of them children. Richard Hurley spoke to three volunteers for the charity Doctors of the World, which brings essential medical care to the world’s most vulnerable people. We’ve chosen the charity for the BMJ’s Christmas appeal this year. Please give generously

Overdiagnosis and the cancer label

Despite Shakespeare’s protestations that roses are still roses whatever you call them, nomenclature does matter. The authors of this week’s Analysis make a case for stopping using the term “cancer” to describe some low risk lesions because it might be doing more harm than good (doi:10.1136/bmj.k3322). Brooke Nickel at the University of Sydney and colleagues posit “microtumour,” “abnormal cells,” or “indolent lesions of low malignant potential” as alternative descriptors. Some slow growing or non-growing cancers would never cause harm if undetected. An example …

Cannabis, cannabis everywhere: UK to review medical cannabis policy as Canada plans imminent legalisation for all uses

As the UK government weathers sustained criticism for denying the drug to sick children, Portugal legalises medical cannabis, and all eyes are on Canada, set to become the first major economy to allow non-medical use of the plant. Richard Hurley reports

Drugs caused record number of deaths in England and Wales in 2016

The number of deaths from drug poisoning reached record levels in England and Wales last year, official figures have shown. The Office for National Statistics, which compiled the figures, said that drug poisoning caused a higher number of deaths to be registered in England and Wales in 2016 than in any year since 1993, when comparable figures started being collected.1 In total, 3744 people in England and Wales had their cause of death registered in 2016 as poisoning by legal or controlled drugs, 70 more than in 2015. Two thirds of these deaths (2593) followed drug misuse. More than half (2038) of all drug poisoning deaths resulted from an opioid, such as heroin or morphine (1209). Methadone caused 413 …

Angelina Jolie’s double mastectomy and the question of who owns our genes

The film star’s announcement of her risk reducing surgery brought breast cancer to the top of the news agenda. But her BRCA1 mutation also drew attention to the issue of control over access to gene sequences, writes Richard Hurley

UK lifts lifetime ban on gay men giving blood

The ban on gay men donating blood in Great Britain is to be lifted on 7 November 2011, after new evidence, including research in the BMJ , indicated that this would not affect the safety for recipients. Men who abstain from anal and oral sex with another man for at least one year will be eligible if they meet the other criteria for selecting donors, the Department of Health announced on 8 September. This 12 month “deferral” applies whether or not condoms were used. “Donor selection rules are based on good evidence to maintain their credibility with donors, and this change . . . is proportionate to the current risk,” said Lorna Williamson, medical and research director of NHS Blood and Transplant, which manages donations in England and north Wales. Our priority is “to …