"AN UNNECESSARY EXHUMATION."

Altruism in organ donation: an unnecessary requirement?

Altruism has long been taken to be the guiding principle of ethical organ donation in the UK, and has been used as justification for rejecting or allowing certain types of donation. We argue that, despite this prominent role, altruism has been poorly defined in policy and position documents, and used confusingly and inconsistently. Looking at how the term has been used over recent years allows ...

Medicare mandatory assignment: an unnecessary risk?

An unnecessary case of paraffin oil pneumonia.

A 64-year-old woman died after 12 years of progressive pulmonary disease which was initially diagnosed as sarcoidosis but later correctly identified as mineral oil pneumonia due to insufflation of paraffin instilled as nasal drops. In view of the potential damaging effect of liquid paraffin on the lungs, the current indications for its use must be strongly questioned.

When an infection prompts removal of an unnecessary device.

Financial support. National Institutes of Health Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study consortium (U01 GM76672) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Epicenter Program (1U01 CI000344).' Potential conflicts of interest. All authors report no conflicts of interest relevant to this article. All authors submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest, and the ...

The exhumation of Mattia Preti, painter.

Hallucinatory inspiration Visual migrainous hallucinations have provided inspiration for others. Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, is known to have suffered from migraine and is thought to have used his migrainous disturbances of body image as inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.'0 Atkinson and Appenzeller described a patient who had migraine who painted her complex v...