Milburn refuses to renegotiate consultants' contract

When Your Patient Refuses

Numerous malpractice lawsuits have been filed against health care providers by patients who claimed that, upon suffering a serious injury after refusing care, they did not fully understand the potential consequences of such refusal. In a typical situation, a patient alleges that the health care provider was negligent in not fully disclosing the risks of treatment refusal. Coupled with this alle...

Government could fire and rehire consultants to introduce new contract, says BMA.

The government could fire and rehire consultants in order to move them on to a new contract, the BMA has said. Delegates at the BMA’s annual UK consultants’ conference in London on 3 March heard that this could be one option considered by the government if consultants rejected its final contract offer. The government has yet to announce a firm offer for changes, but Rob Harwood, the BMA Consult...

Poor team work is killing patients.

News The health secretary, Alan Mil-burn, vowed last week to press ahead with reforms in the health service and to use money promised in the consultants' contract to buy more of doctors' time for the NHS. Speaking in front of the health select committee, Mr Milburn told ministers that the £250m ($400m; 390m) promised in the proposed contract for consultants and " liberated " by the doctors' rej...

Screening for prostate cancer--the controversy that refuses to die.

n engl j med 360;13 nejm.org march 26, 2009 1351 with other professional organizations. This process should optimally lead to a multidisciplinary consensus statement involving providers such as obstetricians, midwives, pediatricians, urologists, and family doctors and to the development and dissemination of educational materials for medical professionals and families. Male circumcision will rem...

Reagan refuses to budge in weapons talks.