New England Surgical Society.

The history of surgery in Massachusetts.

The history of surgery in Massachusetts is full of great men who have made enormous contributions to the art and the science of surgery. I will concentrate for the most part on the century just past, and on the surgeons, mostly from Massachusetts but some from the other New England states, who have made those contributions and provided leadership and vision to the New England Surgical Society (...

Spinal epidural abscess.

Copyright © 2006 Massachusetts Medical Society. Despite advances in medical knowledge, imaging techniques, and surgical interventions, spinal epidural abscess remains a challenging problem that often eludes diagnosis and receives suboptimal treatment. The incidence of this disease — two decades ago diagnosed in approximately 1 of 20,000 hospital admissions1 — has doubled in the past two decades...

Consumers or Citizens? Whose Voice Will Healthwatch Represent and Will It Matter?; Comment on “Challenges Facing Healthwatch, a New Consumer Champion in England”

Efforts to achieve effective and meaningful patient and public involvement (PPI) in healthcare have existed for nearly a century, albeit with limited success. This brief commentary discusses a recent paper by Carter and Martin exploring the “Challenges Facing Healthwatch, a New Consumer Champion in England,” and places these challenges in the context of the broader struggle to give a voice to h...

Clinical practice. Assessment of patients' competence to consent to treatment.

Copyright © 2007 Massachusetts Medical Society. A 75-year-old woman with type 2 diabetes mellitus and peripheral vascular disease is admitted with a gangrenous ulcer of the plantar aspect of her left foot. A surgical consultation results in a recommendation for a below-the-knee amputation, but the patient declines the procedure on the grounds that she has lived long enough and wants to die with...

"What to do--how to do it.