John Platt

Casar holds a 3 minute and 26 second moment of silence to represent the time in which DHS officers let Renee Good bleed out after she was shot

The word "delirium" comes from Latin: *de-lira* — "out of the furrow."

Like a plough going off track.

Delirium is an abrupt departure from the person's normal path.

To recognise it, you need to know what their path was before.


#delirium

Emergency Department (ED) staff: screen ALL patients over 65 for delirium.

Emergency departments are where it's most missed and most dangerous.

Make it as routine as checking blood pressure.

Statement from the Obamas:

Statement from #AlexPretti’s untimely and tragic death.

It’s bad enough that he was killed, even worse they are maligning this you man who by all accounts was a wonderful human being

The world and the US is watching aghast with horror at what is happening

I cannot imagine the devastation this family is experiencing today. This statement is powerful and must be read.

It really is amazing to listen to a guy who faked bone spurs to avoid serving in the military denigrate combat veterans of our allies while also using “we” when referencing the historical sacrifices and bravery of our own soldiers.

Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen's note to Starmer after visiting Chequers yesterday.

This is where we are: the chair of Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is questioning the #polio vaccine.

Have we forgotten polio wards?
Children in iron lungs.

Vaccines stopped this. Questioning them risks bringing it back.

How does this Make America Healthy? We should all be terrified.

Anna de Velasco y Girón, Duchess of Braganza, gazes impassively at the modern world. St James’s, London

👇👇

The ‘heterogeneity’ of possible pathways as we follow as we age, that I always taught, many very positive, somewhat alleviates my gloomy ponderings

Life as a long novel written on a postcard etc. I’m exactly 10 years ahead of you. Make the most of your sixties.

I agree.

I would often follow up that phrase (‘they
being very sick indeed’ ) after a pause with something like ‘they are so ill that they could die’. It’s important not to shy away from using the ‘d’ words with relatives in these situations even though they may seem like a detonation.

A walk on a drizzly day

FIFTY WAYS TO LEAVE YOUR LOOFAH

Just slip out the tub, bub
Crush it with a handstand
That kind of ploy, Roy
Endears you to me.
Force it down the lav, Trev
Tear it into shards, pard
Defenestrate it, Mic
Hide it in a tree

Finding new ways to provide hope is an important part of neurological practice but you wont find enlightenment in our journals or our textbooks.

Minoan cups : about 1700 BC

Yes - and, as when we medics are patients too, I think we usually prefer simple, and perhaps even repeated, communications ( at least initially ) that don’t just assume that we are functioning as a highly knowledgable colleague. A difficult art I think. I was always learning !

My mother had a severe stroke at a similar age, which eventually led to nursing home care. As a geriatrician specialising in stroke care, my skills of interpreting CT scans, when I was kindly shown hers by the consultant, were of very little help due to my emotional state.

Wishing your mother well

@hcrichardson.bsky.social wrote about a 1945 US leaflet on how to spot fascism in America.

I thought it might be worth screenshotting the relevant bit.

ALL of the these warnings have come to pass in the past year. 1/2

A very tardy response, having just seen this. I was delighted to see your plans for March and send you hearty wishes for success and for the year ahead in general.

‘Corridor care normalised’ . President of Royal College of Emergency Medicine. Today’s Times.

St Nicholas of Myra posts his gift through a window. From a medieval illumination.

One of my favourite images, inspired by Christmas. A medieval stone carving features an angel, who, with the gentlest of touches wakes the three magi who share a circular blanket. The angel draws their attention to the blazing eight pointed star above

Rest in peace.

An apothecary with his herbal by Rubens

Mill in Winter, painting by Peter Brook, 1927-2009 (Kirklees Museums).

Sound, succinct and clear advice, similar to what I have heard from others of her generation.

That was a wonderful gift. And great that she used it to such good effect.

Some Christmases ago, I gifted my late gran (Gwyneth) a journal, for her to capture her life story; answer questions I was always too shy to ask. I revisit the book, & especially her advice within, every so often. I see her handwritten words & it feels like she's beside me. I’m so glad we did this.