Crumudgeonly Doctors: Dr. House is alive and well in the UK, where doctors are going to be "revalidated" every so often to make sure no one else turns into a homicidal maniac like the infamous Dr. Shipman. One doctor's response:

According to the Royal College of GPs, an “excellent” GP prescribes only treatments that will be effective, makes management decisions based on evidence and is honest when completing certificates and reports. At Copperfield’s Surgery of Real Life, patients demand treatments with little hope of success, don’t understand the concept of evidence-based medicine and expect me to lie through my teeth on insurance claims.

So I’m going to start by grassing myself up to the GMC. Yes, I prescribe placebo antibiotics if there’s no other way to get the punter out of the room without charging up the cattle prod, and I have also ignored the occasional ski-goggle tan when signing sick notes in February. Revalidate that.