Dr. W. Gifford-Jones

LATEST STORIES BY DR. W. GIFFORD-JONES

Recent column tripped rapid reader response

My recent negative column about injection sites in prison and elsewhere triggered a rapid response. Here is a good sampling of both sides of the issue:

August 11, 2018 Diet & Fitness

Doctor holding medical injection syringe. (Postmedia files)

Latest news on prostate cancer

What’s a man to do? Equally important, what’s a doctor to advise when the PSA test is reported elevated? Or should men even be screened for this test? During the last 10 years there’s been considerable flip-lopping about it. Now a large study from the United Kingdom, reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association has new recommendations about PSA testing.

August 4, 2018 Diet & Fitness

Long Term family doctor decreases chance of death

How important are new tests to diagnose and treat disease? Or improved surgical techniques, speedier emergency care and doctors specializing in various fields of medicine? The fact is that all improvements in medical care make life easier for patients and save lives. But a long overdue English report shows the family doctor (FD) also helps to prolong life.

July 28, 2018 Diet & Fitness

GIFFORD-JONES: Fatty liver disease on the rise

Who hasn’t heard of the Mayflower – the ship that brought pilgrims to the U.S. in 1620? What is rarely known is that towards the end of that voyage, it was necessary to ration beer, and some pilgrims died as a result. In those days beer was safer to drink than water. It’s still a safe drink when used moderately, but excessive amounts can cause cirrhosis of the liver. And how many know that too much food can also cause nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in young people, that may require a liver transplant?

July 21, 2018 Diet & Fitness

Doug Ford is dead right, injection sites are dead wrong

Not all the lunatics are in the asylum. Why? Because federal prison officials are providing needles to prisoners so they can inject themselves with illegal drugs. Now, Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario, is being criticized for damning the use of injection sites in prison and in Canadian cities. Condoning drug use is the most illogical way to combat North America’s opioid epidemic. But what else would work?

July 14, 2018 Relationships

Why did Anthony Bourdain commit suicide?

Albert Camus, the French humanist, wrote, “there is only one true philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.” Pliny the Elder had said earlier, “admit the miseries of our life on earth, suicide is God’s best gift to man.”

July 7, 2018 Relationships

Anthony Bourdain poses for a photo in Toronto on October 31, 2016. Ernest Doroszuk/Toronto Sun

The greatest threat to your life

Ask anyone, what’s the greatest medical risk of dying? And they’ll answer heart attack.

June 30, 2018 Diet & Fitness

GIFFORD-JONES: But Roosevelt knows how to be president!

Seventy-two years ago I arrived in Boston. I’d been accepted as a student at The Harvard Medical School. That night a full moon shone on the school’s white marble buildings, an awe-inspiring sight I’ve never forgotten.

June 23, 2018 Relationships

FILE - This July 24, 1933 file photo shows President Franklin D. Roosevelt appealing to the nation via radio for immediate enrollment of all employers under the blanket agreement to raise wages and create jobs, in Washington. (AP Photo, File)

GIFFORD-JONES: Never ignore threat of nuclear war

What did I learn at my 68th medical reunion at The Harvard Medical School (HMS)? I learned, from an article written by Stephanie Dutchen, that my brilliant classmate, Melvin Glimcher, physician, engineer and professor – had created the myoelectric elbow.

June 16, 2018 Diet & Fitness

A man watches a TV screen showing file footage of U.S. President Donald Trump, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, June 11, 2018.

What women (and men) should know about hormone replacement therapy

The year 2002 was one of worry for women who were taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to combat troublesome menopausal symptoms. Bold newspaper headlines reported that a study called The Women’s Health Initiative, conducted by the National Institute of Health, showed an increased risk of breast cancer, heart disease, stroke, gall bladder disease and blood clots in the legs and lungs of those taking HRT for longer than five years. It was hardly prime time to be prescribed estrogen. But what are the facts in 2018?

June 9, 2018 Diet & Fitness