Current poll

• Should patients be fined if they miss appointments?
  (June 2008)
  

Polls in 2008

• Should all healthcare interventions be rigorously tested before their introduction?(June 2008)
  Votes: Yes 392 (78%); No 111 (22%)
• Is it feasible for GPs to put all 40-75 year olds on statins based on cardiovascular risk, ethnicity, and family history? (June 2008)
  Votes: Yes 416 (44%); No 522 (56%)
  
• Were MPs right to allow the creation of "admixed" human and animal embryos for research in the United Kingdom? (May 2008)
  Votes: Yes 271 (36%); No 480 (64%)
  
• Would you share the answers to exam questions if you were exclusively told them in advance? (May 2008)
  Votes: Yes 57 (58%); No 42 (42%)
  
• Should hypertension be treated aggressively even in very old patients? (May 2008)
  Votes: Yes 362 (49%); No 374 (51%)
  
• Should patients be able to pay top-up fees for treatments not funded by the NHS? (May 2008)
  Votes: Yes 375 (71%); No 151 (29%)
  
• Does it matter if medical graduates don't get jobs as doctors? (May 2008)
  Votes: Yes 1025 (81%); No 246 (19%)
• Do we need polyclinics? (April 2008)
  Votes: Yes 361 (66%); No 188 (34%)
• Should we screen for abdominal aortic aneurysm? (April 2008)
  Votes: Yes 333 (66%); No 175 (34%)
  
• Which health project would make the greatest difference to health care? (April 2008)
  
  • Palliative care for all at the end of life: 1552 votes (38%)            
  • Combating drug resistant infections in poor countries:     879 votes (22%)       
  • Better care for the elderly with multiple health problems: 686 votes (17%)      Improving chronic pain management: 487 (12%)           
  • Reducing excessive drinking in young women: 331 votes (8%)            
  • Helping to reduce adverse drug reactions in elderly patients: 111 votes (3%)
    
    
• Are there too many female medical graduates? (April 2008)
  Votes: Yes 454 (44%); No 568 (56%)
  
• Should pharmaceutical companies enjoy greater legal freedoms to provide prescription drug information directly to the public? (March 2008)
  Votes: Yes 220 (20%); No 870 (80%)
  
• Should responsibility for signing people off sick be transferred from GPs to occupational health teams? (March 2008)
  Votes: Yes 419 (56%); No 326 (44%)
  
• Should all doctors have a legal obligation to offer assistance in an inflight medical
  emergency? (March 2008)
  Votes: Yes 458 (53%); No  408 (47%)
  
• Should doctors change their practice in prescribing antidepressants in the light of last month's research? (March 2008)
  Votes: Yes 876 (71%); No 355 (29%)
  
• Has the hunt for conflicts of interests gone too far? (February 2008)
  Votes: Yes 197 (45%); No 246 (56%)
  
• Do you object to continuing medical education being funded by the pharmaceutical industry? (February 2008)
  Votes: Yes 853 (55%); No 669 (45%)
  
• Should doctors advocate snus and other nicotine replacements? (February 2008)
  Votes: Yes 195 (61%); No 124 (39%)
  
• Is it time to stop using the term "sudden infant death syndrome"? (February 2008)
  Votes: Yes 584 (60%); No 381 (40%)
  
• Is the obesity epidemic exaggerated? (February 2008)
  Votes: Yes 987 (73%); No 371 (27%)
  
• Is climate change a matter for doctors? (January 2008)
  Votes: Yes 805 (69%); No 363 (31%)
  
• Should the Tooke report on postgraduate medical education and training be implemented in full? (January 2008)
  Votes: Yes 429 (74%); No: 153 (26%)
  

Previous polls

• Is it acceptable for people to be paid to adhere to medication? (August 2007)
• Should we consider a boycott of Israeli academic institutions? (July 2007)
• Should medical journals carry drug advertising? (July 2007)
• Should folic acid fortification be mandatory? (June 2007)
• Should genetic information be disclosed to insurers? (June 2007)
• Is presumed consent the answer to organ shortages? (May 2007)
• Should women be offered cholesterol lowering drugs to prevent cardiovascular disease? (May 2007)
• Should patient groups accept money from drug companies? (May 2007)
• What is the most important medical advance since 1840? (January 2007)
• Would the NHS benefit from a single, identifiable leader? (December 2003)

• What is your idea of a good death? (July 2003)

• What do you think of POEMs? (June 2003)

• Are doctors and the drug industry too close for comfort? (June 2003)

• How political should a general medical journal be? (December 2002)

• Spend (slightly) less on health care and more on the arts (December 2002)

• Journal policies on competing interests (poll) (December 2002)

• Ban a word for Christmas and please an old journal (poll) (November 2002)

• Consent for using leftover body material for scientific purposes (September 2002)

• Promoting pedestrian and cyclist survey (May 2002)

• Where will the NHS be in 10 years? (April 2002)

• Which would do most to improve health in the developed world? (April 2002)

• Today's non-diseases(February 2002)

• What's your ideal medical school? (December 2001)

• Why Richard Smith resigned as professor of medical journalism at Nottingham University (May 2001)

• Why are doctors so unhappy? (May 2001)

• New genetics - new ethics (May 2001)

• How can health research in the developing world best be promoted? (October 2000)

• Results of readers' polls on topics for theme issues (2000-1) (September 2000)

• Should BMJ have published an advertisement featuring a woman with bare breasts? (September 2000)

• England's NHS plan (August 2000)

• Are you ready to access parts of bmj.com through a hand-held device, such as a Palm Pilot (TM) or Visor (TM)? (May 2000)

• Should we limit the number of rapid responses we publish from one individual? (April 2000)

• Should doctors and nurses monitor each others' performance? (April 2000)

• Continuing medical education (February 2000)

• How should research articles be shortened for paper publication? (November 1999)

• Overpopulation and overconsumption: does the world need specific education policies? (October 1999)

• Doctors' consulting styles - present, future, and desired (September 1999)

• PubMed Central
  Website visitors' attitude (11 September 1999)
  Authors' attitude (October 1999)

• ePrints
  Authors' attitude (10 July 1999)

• How should the BMJ respond to devolution? (May 1999)

• Who gets the liver? (July 1998)

• Best and worst things about the NHS (July 1998)