The essays in this issue of the journal cover a variety of subjects and speak to each other, either directly or indirectly. The Discussion contains a number of separate but related comments and reports on a system in which people depend on health care from includes practitioners from various systems of medicine – as well as untrained quacks. A physician denounces current coronary care as unscientific and unethical, provoking a rejoinder from a cardiologist who argues that an ethical cardiologist can save lives. A doctor describes his efforts to help a woman accept that her husband, who died suddenly in the hospital, is indeed no more. An intensive care specialist responds to this case study with his comments on the problem of communicating with the relatives of critically ill patients.
Cover: ‘Fatehpur Sikri’ by Douglas Scott, Chairperson, Global Cancer Concern