Press release

Holiday Review 1998
Last June CMAJ issued a call for outlandish papers for its second annual Holiday Review. You'll find the results in this week's issue — a first-ever in CMAJ's 87 years!

p. 1480  D'oh! An analysis of the medical care provided to the family of Homer J. Simpson — Robert Patterson, MD; Charles Weijer, MD, PhD [full text]

If life imitates art, it stands to reason that physicians may find much to emulate in Homer J. Simpson's physicians: Drs. Julius Hibbert and Nick Riviera. But which physician is the correct role model? Polar opposites on the physician plane, Hibbert has "diagnostic acumen of Oslerian proportions" but abuses the health care system by taking time to actually talk to patients and distribute lollipops to children. Riviera, a graduate of Club Med School, practises with an "enthusiasm that is matched only by his showmanship," leading to 160 malpractice complaints but then "artists like Riviera are rarely understood in their time." The authors, Drs. Robert Patterson and Charles Weijer, conclude that Hibbert is "wasteful, paternalistic and politically incorrect," and laud Riviera as the physician of the future, able to "cut corners to cut costs, accede to the patient's every whim and...strive to avoid the coroner."

p. 1485  McGee, Samuel: consultation report from the marge of Lake Lebarge — Jaime A. Smith, MD [full text]

The much-celebrated tale of The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service gains new credibility with a recently discovered psychiatric report found in the recesses of the Whitehorse General Hospital and submitted by the Yukon's only practicing psychiatrist, Dr. J.A. Smith. Writing in 1901, Dr. E. van Beetfield concluded that McGee suffered a severe case of hypothermia while travelling by dogsled from Dawson City to Whitehorse and his companions, believing he was dead, tried to cremate his remains in a boiler. But when they checked the boiler, they found McGee alive and well in the midst of flames, and demanding that they close the door as he felt a draft. According to van Beetfield, McGee was suffering from a "delusional disorder related to his misperception of the ambient temperature." He recommended McGee be committed under the Mental Health Act and conveyed to the Whitehorse General Hospital for observation and thyroid studies.

p. 1461  The good, the bad and the ugly: association between car colour and bicycle passing space — Jacqueline K. Hurst, BSc, MD [full text]

A new study reveals that white and maroon cars are the most dangerous for intrepid cyclists. In an examination of the correlation between car colour and space allowed for passing cyclists, Dr. Jacqueline K. Hurst recorded data on 79 cars. She found that the safest cars are beige or grey. She also found that there were far more white cars than any other colour, and points to the need into more research on this topic.

• How to read clinical journals: IX. Sounding like you've read the literature when you haven't read a thing [full text]

• The impact of hissy fits in primary care [full text]

• Cost-effectiveness of beer versus red wine for the prevention of symptomatic coronary artery disease [full text]