ABSTRACT
In 2008 I chanced upon the lonely grave of Dr. William Theodore Hodge, buried in 1934, in the Derby Pioneer and Aboriginal Cemetery. He turned out to be the founding doctor of the practice in which I have worked for the past thirty years. Dr. Hodge migrated from England in 1896. He was the first western trained doctor to work in the Perth suburb of Claremont and in the wheat-belt town of Kellerberrin. He was an innovative and inventive modern doctor who became a legend in the Kimberley where he died tragically, on the day prior to his retirement, at the age of seventy-five. His story is illustrative of the life and medical practice of a pioneering doctor in metropolitan, rural, and remote practice in Western Australia at the end of the nineteenth and the early years of the twentieth centuries.
Subject(s)
Rural Health Services/history , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Western AustraliaSubject(s)
Health Policy , Politics , Rural Health Services , Australia , Evidence-Based Practice , HumansSubject(s)
Interprofessional Relations , Physicians , Australia , Ethics, Medical , Fees, Medical , Humans , Physicians/ethicsSubject(s)
Physicians, Family/supply & distribution , Rural Population , Australia , Delivery of Health Care, Integrated/economics , Financing, Government , Health Services Needs and Demand , Humans , Medically Underserved Area , Personnel Selection , Physicians, Family/statistics & numerical data , Primary Health Care/economics , Rural Health Services/economics , Rural Health Services/supply & distributionABSTRACT
The fortification of staple foods has eliminated many deficiency diseases. Despite this, "tampering" with people's food always provokes opposition, much of it from health professionals. Opposition is often based on self-interest, tunnel vision and theory rather than research. A historical perspective of the patterns of objections to fortification and its outcomes may help resolve the anxieties and opposing ethical positions of advocates and opponents of fortification.
Subject(s)
Dissent and Disputes/history , Food, Fortified/history , Health Policy/history , Adult , Alcoholic Beverages , Australia , Bread , Child , Female , Folic Acid/administration & dosage , Folic Acid Deficiency/prevention & control , History, 20th Century , Humans , Male , Pregnancy , Thiamine/administration & dosage , Thiamine Deficiency/prevention & controlABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Dentists rely on general practitioners to manage a patient's warfarin dose before uncomplicated dental extraction. OBJECTIVE: This article compares common practice of warfarin management with the available clinical evidence. DISCUSSION: Common practice lags more than 20 years behind clinical evidence to the detriment of patients, and with medicolegal consequences for doctors.