It has been a long time coming. Approximately 10 years ago, at the tender age of 35, I saw my GP for severe back and leg pain. I had been building a shed in the garden and cleaning out our backyard pond. Both of these activities had involved some heavy lifting and lumbar flexion.
“David,” said my GP, “It is normal at your age.”
Up until that point, I thought of my GP as being a gentle and kind fellow.
“That can’t be,” I replied in denial. “Nobody has ever said those words to me. I am not old enough for something to be ‘normal at my age,’” I said.
Seizures in children are a common problem facing physicians working in primary care and emergency departments. Between 3% and 5% of children under 5 years of age will have a febrile seizure, and approximately 1.5% of children under 15 years of age will have at least one afebrile seizure.
As physicians we see humanity at its greatest and, I had thought until recently, at its lowest. However, after a holiday that included numerous airplane trips I’ve changed my mind. People are at their worst, without a doubt, while flying the friendly skies. I’m not sure who the “friendly” refers to.
Every year in Canada, 125 000 car crashes result in over 12 000 serious injuries and 2400 fatalities.
Drinking drivers are at increased risk of crashing. The crash risk doubles at blood alcohol levels (BALs) between 0.05% and 0.08% and increases over 150-fold at BALs above 0.24%.
The term “evidence-based medicine” first appeared in the medical literature in the early 1990s. Today the concept is almost ubiquitous in clinical practice, with its attendant high expectation of improvement in outcome.
