This is the second of a 3-part series analyzing a recent report in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine claiming to have shown positive results (a 100% increase in pregnancies from in vitro fertilization) resulting from distant prayers performed simultaneously by 3 different volunteer prayer groups in 3 different countries. Part 1 analyzed the scientific defects of the study. Part 2 analyzes th...

is round the corner now, a century later, when 'pangenesis' may be vindicated by the molecular biologists. These more general essays set out with some clarity the overall picture of the philosophical and scientific scene as it applied to medicine. The subsequent papers refer in more detail to individual aspects of medical development of which Medical Mycology 1841-1870 by F. M. Keddie surveys a...

I recently came across an article from my residency training titled “The Seven Sins of Medicine.” Based on a 1948 lecture by Richard Asher, MD, the article proposes that, although there are a multitude of medical sins, seven are of primary importance: obscurity, cruelty, bad manners, overspecialization, love of the rare, stupidity, and sloth. Reading the article again, I wondered how these sins...

I nearly died. Making a self-diagnosis of acute appendicitis is unpretentious, especially when the patient is a family physician with more than 30 years of clinical experience. The symptoms: right lower quadrant pain, increasing in intensity over a 3-day period and associated with anorexia and chills. I arranged to undergo the appropriate tests, which corroborated my diagnosis. After calling th...

Observers of the French medical scene may be struck by an apparent paradox. France is a major producer and consumer of nonconventional remedies, and by certain measures its use of alternative medicine ranks among the highest in Europe. Yet France stands out even among the countries of southern Europe, which have been less willing than those of the north to tolerate medical activities outside th...

The Dictionary ofModem Medicine is a well-presented reference book. It is easily readable and clearly illustrated. This volume, however, may be more accurately described as a small encyclopedia of modern issues in medicine. While it sets forth many interesting stories behind terms used to describe medicine's role in society, it is less successful in serving as a traditional dictionary of techni...