Cut them down to size

BMJ 1995;310:661 (11 March)

Letters

Cut them down to size

EDITOR,--It was disturbing to learn that there is growing pressureon the BMJ's obituaries but reassuring that this is becausethere are more of us and not because we are dying faster.¹ Perhapsthe answer lies in rigid control of length. We are accustomedto pleading our case for entry into medical school on a standardform, and many applications for jobs require the completionof boxes of predetermined length as does the taxman. Physiologicaland anatomical constraints ensure that in much of life we haveto curtail what we might like to continue further. Surely now,especially with the facility to write one's own obituary, thegreat and good can be briefer in this, their last publication.

Lecturer in otolaryngology Royal Preston Hospital, Preston PR24HT

John D C Bennett