Jim McVeagh • Nov 30, 2011 •
In commenting on the case of Sean Davison - the man who has just been convicted of assisting the suicide of his terminally-ill mother – John Kleinsman (the director of the Nathaniel Centre, the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre) makes the salient point that legalising euthanasia will leave the elderly vulnerable to pressure from family, health professionals [...] Related posts: … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Dec 28, 2010 •
Dean Scanlen makes an impassioned plea for stricter driving license laws in the Herald today. I have much sympathy with his call to make the driving test more comprehensive. I have long been an advocate of making the defensive driving and the advanced driving courses compulsory for learner drivers. This would certainly provide new drivers [...] Related posts: … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Sep 15, 2010 •
That seems to be what we should be putting on the packs of anti-inflammatory drugs on supermarket shelves (Neurofen, Cataflam et al) – at least, that is what this Herald article is suggesting. It reports that a recent Danish study shows an 86% increased risk of stroke for users of the drug Voltaren (diclofenac). This [...] Related posts: … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Mar 25, 2010 •
I might have known that the case of Margaret Page, the woman who has decided to starve herself to death, has been taken up as a cause célèbre by the euthanasia lobby, notably Lesley Martin. It seems to me, however, that there is a substantial difference between actively participating in the ending of another person’s [...] Related posts: … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Jan 11, 2010 •
I saw this headline on Stuff and thought “about time”. Parents win disabled children care payment case Sadly, it turns out only that parents with adult disabled children have won the support of the Human Rights Tribunal, not the government itself. Currently only caregivers who are not related to the disabled adult receive payment from the government. Family [...] Related … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Jan 09, 2010 •
After all the scare stories about the dangers of cell phones the Herald carries an article today that is a delicious irony. Mobile phones may improve memory – study The headline is, of course, the usual media hyperbole. The study they are “interpreting” is one on mice that have been genetically engineered to develop a disease that [...] Related posts: … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Dec 11, 2009 •
Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article. There is always plenty of spam to go around in health reporting. Journalists just love to sensationalise anything to do with medicine, preferably putting it in the worst light possible: Seeing red over high health costs Cataract surgery for Christchurch woman Glennis [...] Related … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Oct 26, 2009 •
Have you noticed recently how every headline in the media is slanted to make whatever is happening in ACC look bad? ACC is clearly the current whipping boy and Nick Smith appears to be the Minister designated for denigration. This headline is a particularly egregious sample: ACC pulls fall plan support While superficially true, it obscures the [...] … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Oct 07, 2009 •
The NZ Nurses’ Organisation tells us that rest home neglect is “all too common”. While this is certainly true, I don’t accept their reasoning when it come to causes: “These two cases are a powerful illustration of the conflict between caring and profit.” No. These cases illustrate the problem of state funding of a private institution. Nursing homes [...] … Read More
Jim McVeagh • Oct 07, 2009 •
This article on Stuff caught my eye. It is about an elderly lady who was apparently “assessed” over the phone and her home help removed. The article initially grabbed my attention because it is quite unusual for an elderly person to have home help removed, unless the home help was temporarily funded by ACC following [...] … Read More