Inaccurate and misogynistic: Why we need to make the term ‘hysterectomy’ history
Tonsillectomy, appendectomy, lumpectomy make sense. The suffix ‘ectomy‘ denotes surgical removal of the named body part, so these terms give a clear idea of what…
Heather Saxena
Heather is a medical reporter for Australian Doctor Group.
Is hospital admission really the gold standard for mental health patients presenting to ED?
Sometimes, clusters of thoughts or issues occur together, leading to greater insights. It was not long after I had written my AusDoc article on the…
Divine dispute: Uniting Church says telehealth clinic misusing its brand name
Telehealth corporate Eucalyptus is embroiled in a legal battle with the Uniting Church over its online weight loss program Juniper with the church alleging it…
GP who botched his first face lift guilty of hubris, tribunal says
A GP without training in invasive cosmetic procedures performed a face lift for acne scarring that breached the patient’s occipital artery, a tribunal says. The…
Judges slam medical board’s failed bid to reinstate emergency suspension
Three judges have criticised a Medical Board of Australia bid to reinstate a doctor’s emergency suspension, saying natural justice demanded finalising the case, not dragging…
From lipid rage to toilet rapture: A tale of two patient letters
The highs and lows of being a patient are sometimes communicated to the GP by an appreciative letter, and sometimes by one of searing complaint.…
What a dying patient’s handshake taught me about life and love
I was working in my oncology ward as usual when I received a call from the ICU to evaluate a patient. The patient was a…
I watched my mother die a slow death: VAD laws need to change
I have just spoken the eulogy for my mother, who died aged 99.333 years of age. She was a tough old bird, having knocked on…
No, Lou, it was not a perfect day… it was a seriously crappy day
What is the opposite of the Lou Reed song, Perfect Day? Did he write a little number called One Particularly Crappy Day? Or the follow-up hit, One…
Australia is being menaced by managed care: We’d be foolish to ignore the warning signs
They say everything is bigger in America — cars, coffee cups, and, as I recently saw firsthand, corporate control over healthcare. The US health system…
