Whether it is ethically acceptable for doctors to require payment of fees before treatment depends on interpretation of the ethical rules of the profession, the circumstances of the doctor-patient relationship, the urgency of the patient's need for treatment, and whether refusal to treat before payment represents abandonment of a patient.

BACKGROUND There is debate concerning methods for calculating numbers needed to treat (NNT) from results of systematic reviews. METHODS We investigate the susceptibility to bias for alternative methods for calculating NNTs through illustrative examples and mathematical theory. RESULTS Two competing methods have been recommended: one method involves calculating the NNT from meta-analytical e...

life in the modern world means existing with the evolving face of modern warfare and global terrorism. we have disasters both man-made disasters, natural. man has devised weapons of mass destruction, which in the hands urban terrorists can cause blasts, building collapses. resulting in a unique pattern of damage to the human body namely, crush injuries “crush syndrome” first recorded in bombing...

Willis R. Whitney, a chemist, who founded the General Electric Company laboratory once said ‘Necessity is not the mother of invention. Knowledge and experiment are its parents’ [1]. Twardowski and Misra reject the primacy of experimentation. They wish us to abandon the necessity to demonstrate by rigorous randomized trials that longer duration and/or more frequent is superior to intermittent di...

BACKGROUND Calculation of numbers needed to treat (NNT) is more complex from meta-analysis than from single trials. Treating the data as if it all came from one trial may lead to misleading results when the trial arms are imbalanced. DISCUSSION An example is shown from a published Cochrane review in which the benefit of nursing intervention for smoking cessation is shown by formal meta-analys...

Many UK patients in the search for their perfect smile have now decided to dental treatment abroad, main reasons being that they believe can same but at a much lower price. With many overseas clinics offering packages also include holiday, tourism seems an opportunity not be missed. Although always case, some treatments unfortunately do go plan, often leaving distraught and apprehensive dentist...

in many countries around the world, including iran, obesity is reaching epidemic proportions. doctors have recently taken, or expressed support for, an extreme ‘personal responsibility for health’ policy against obesity: refusing services to obese patients. this policy may initially seem to improve patients’ incentives to fight obesity. but turning access to medical services into a benefit depe...