Here we go again. It’s the OJ Simpson trial all over. Oscar Pistorius, famous sportsman shoots his partner and faces trial for murder. The “facts” of both cases at first glance suggest that crimes were committed, but the next few weeks as Pistorius goes to trial will see heavily contrasting stories of events. Lawyers and […]
Martin Young
Martin Young is an ENT surgeon living an idyllic life in Knysna. He is a firm believer that "the unexamined life is not worth living", writes for a hobby and is happy to speak truth to power www.drmartinyoung.com or @MartinYoung
Posted inHealth
Give Ritalin a break
Please don’t misinterpret my title. I did not say “Give kids a break from Ritalin” or “Stop using Ritalin on kids”. I meant exactly what I said. Let’s give Ritalin the respect it deserves. I write this in response to a series of tweets I saw by a well-known HIV doctor specialist in which she […]
Posted inBusiness, Health
Leave our ‘germs’ alone!
There is a television advertisement aired in South Africa periodically that I find particularly irritating. In it a young mother, baby in arms, walks around her kitchen spraying an aerosol into the air, to a verbal and written promise that the product in question “Kills germs dead!” Besides massacring the English language, the premise that […]
Posted inBusiness, Health, Tech
How money is more important than lives in healthcare technology
I saw via Twitter an interesting link on Reuters here about how students have developed a smartphone application with a microscope attachment to diagnose malaria. The article shows a picture of a child at risk somewhere in Africa. Great idea, and one that can go a long way to help people who really need it. […]
Posted inGeneral
Leviticus explained, and why sceptics should leave it alone
If I had to comment loudly and publicly about the play of a rugby match using the rules of golf, I would rightly deserve to be considered an idiot. Similarly anyone who uses the content of Leviticus as an argument against Christianity could with good reason be called the same. Yet I see this done […]
Posted inGeneral
Gareth Cliff, religion and thinking things through
I caught sight of a celebrity tweet several days ago, carrying all the hallmarks of a Gareth Cliff tweet — inflammatory, incendiary and poking fun at someone. The stream of tweets in reply did not disappoint. Cliff of course knew exactly what he was doing, and that he would get a mixed response of supporters […]
Posted inBusiness, Health
An open letter to Discovery’s CEO, Dr Jonny Broomberg
Dear Jonny Thank you for coming to speak to us last week. In light of recent media exposure the prospect of meeting 20 angry doctors and specialists must have been daunting. Your DM to me that you were “looking forward to it” was a surprise, but it strikes me that you are up to any […]
Posted inHealth
What has alternative medicine got that modern medicine has lost?
I remember talking to the wife I had just met of an old friend whom I had not seen in twenty years. She was an avid avoider of medical doctors, preferring to take her family to alternative health practitioners. Learning I was a doctor, and to my dismay, she began telling me about her fantastic […]
Posted inGeneral, Health
In the arms of the angel
We all need an “angel” now and again. Life gets in the way of our plans and dreams, and these angels offer an escape for a while, a respite from the real world, a safe place in our search for comfort. These angels are not your stereotypical spiritual beings, but the kind recorded in the […]
Posted inHealth
Looking for the perfect doctor?
There’s been a lot said by me in this and by others in other forums about what modern medical doctors should and shouldn’t do or be — and this is an essential debate — one that needs to be held as the medical profession adapts to rapidly changing technologies, demands and expectations. So I thought […]
Posted inGeneral, Health
Beware the angry ordinary man!
I took an unusual step two days ago. I started a petition against Discovery Health, the administrators of Discovery Medical Aid. I have good reason to be angry, but it seems being angry, as I and so many other doctors, dentists and other health professionals are, is not enough. I am fighting for the right […]
Posted inHealth, Lifestyle, Media
Social media in healthcare and why the doctorsaurs became extinct
Sometimes I feel very alone and vulnerable here. You see, it is rare that doctors air their views on social media (SM), and I have done a fair bit of that on this forum. If you sift out all my posts pertaining to healthcare and read them in sequence, you will have a pretty representative […]