Gavin Francis

Gavin Francis  is a GP; his book on Thomas Browne, The Opium of Time came out in May, and his book in defence of the principles of the NHS, Free For All, was released in August.

Who scored last? Collision Sport

Gavin Francis, 5 October 2023

The human brain​ is softer than tofu, squishier than a jellyfish, slightly more robust than toothpaste. Brain surgeons tend not to use scalpels because the substance they work on is too delicate; instead they use ultrasound and suction probes, using breaths of air to suck away diseased bits of matter. A thin layer of cerebrospinal fluid – a hundred millilitres or so – cushions the...

Brain Spot Men

Gavin Francis, 4 May 2023

Acouple​ of years ago a patient I’ll call Joan came to my GP clinic to tell me that her right leg had stopped working. ‘Sometimes it’ll hold me upright,’ she said, ‘and sometimes it won’t.’ I took a look at her legs. Her thigh muscles on the right seemed to me a bit weaker than on the left, and her reflexes were unusually brisk; when I tapped her...

Functionaldisorders are conditions in which the body’s normal processes are disrupted, but for which no organic cause can be determined. They do, though, have characteristics evident to a trained eye, since the sufferers experience sensations or disabilities that don’t make anatomical sense. This doesn’t mean that the symptoms are in any way less real or debilitating....

On Antibiotic Resistance

Gavin Francis, 7 April 2022

The average adult​ carries about two kilograms of bacteria on and in their body. That’s more bacterial cells than human ones, trillions of them making a home on our skin and in our guts (the ‘microbiome’). We need them to help digest food, to fine-tune our immune systems, and to protect us against harmful micro-organisms. If you get ill with one of the nasty ones, the...

The Head in the Shed: Reading Bones

Gavin Francis, 21 January 2021

IanHamilton once recounted in the LRB (22 October 1992) that ‘when William F. Buckley Jr sent a copy of his essays to Norman Mailer, he pencilled a welcoming “Hi, Norman!” in the index, next to Mailer’s name.’ The index discloses a lot about the nature of a book, and the passions of its author, more than is sometimes realised (‘acknowledgments’ are...

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