Letters

Obituaries

EDITOR,--For many years now, the first section of the BMJ that I read has been the obituary column. I justify this by making the old and rather feeble joke that, in view of my great age, it is important to make sure that I am not in it myself, so that I can continue to take part in my usual daily activities.

This, of course, is only partially true. The main reason for perusing it so eagerly is that it is one's only source of information about the survival or otherwise of medical colleagues. As Liz Crossan and Richard Smith rightly point out,¹ most of the obituaries, even of celebrated doctors, are extraordinarily dull. Even if one has known the person the obituary seems somehow to make him or her almost unrecognisable. I have no explanation for this but would point out how absorbing the . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

Growing pressure on BMJ's obituaries

Liz Crossan and Richard Smith
BMJ 1995 310: 5-6. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Aaron, D. J, Laporte, R. E (1996). Obituaries and tributes should be put on to worldwide web. BMJ 313: 497b-497 [Full text]  
• Delamothe, T., Smith, R. (1996). Redesigning the journal: having your say. BMJ 312: 232-232 [Full text]  
• Delamothe, T. (1995). Hospital jobs on the Internet. BMJ 311: 966-966 [Full text]  
• Lock, S. (1995). How to Do It: Write an obituary for the BMJ. BMJ 311: 680-681 [Full text]  
• Lock, S., Smith, R. (1995). Obituaries: the future. BMJ 311: 143-144 [Full text]