Laughs ironic, Byronic, and sardonic

27th May 1892 Three incidents have made me laugh to-day: the laugh ironic, the laugh Byronic, and the laugh sardonic! Firstly, on visiting an elderly patient who has suffered acutely for many years from a form of tic douloureux, I found her overjoyed at the wonderfully beneficial effects of some pills which I had prescribed. Read More …

Not everything is fair in health and war

Maternal Health in Afghanistan, Khalid Hosseini. Inside the old, dingy operating room, Laila lay on a gurney bed as the doctor scrubbed her hands in a basin. Laila was shivering. She drew in air through her teeth every time the nurse wiped her belly with a cloth soaked in a yellow-brown liquid. Another nurse stood Read More …

Breastfeeding aah – oh

‘Where is it OK?’ conundrums. Posy Simmonds. Commentary Posy Simmonds captures and punctures society’s often hypocritical attitudes as sharply as ever. Since she composed this in 1984, laws and attitudes have improved – but statistics are still disappointing. Further info Reproduced by kind permission of the artist Posy Simmonds Breastfeeding resources Guide (Feedgood, Scottish Govt) Read More …

Why I thought I’d killed my baby

Sally Wilson: My postpartum psychosis.  Grateful for ECT. Nina McCallig: grateful for being sectioned. I saw a midwife take Ella away, I believed they were taking her to be resuscitated because I’d harmed her. I was convinced that because I’d hurt my baby I had died and was now living in the ‘after life’, a Read More …