Search

This commentary assesses Let There Be Life: An Intimate Portrait of Robert Edwards and His IVF Revolution by Roger Gosden (Jamestowne Bookworks, Williamsburg, VA, 2019, xxix + 359 pp., £15.99 / $19.99), an authorized biography of the IVF pioneer who founded this journal. It reflects on the challenges of placing Edwards in the history of studying reproduction, especially the rise of interest in infertility. It analyses Gosden's narrative choices and practices of reconstruction, in particular of experiences of seeing human eggs, embryos and fetuses. And it suggests that further research should explore the full spectrum of communication around Edwards with a view to illuminating the roles of scientists in transforming reproduction and to feeding back into a richer view of his life., (Copyright © 2020 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The origins of evidence-based medicine as understood today are traceable to 1972 and the publication of Archie Cochrane’s book Effectiveness and Efficiency: Random Reflections on Health Services. This book attempted to bridge the divide between scientific medicine and clinical judgment that had developed since the mid-19th century. Its genesis was stimulated by Cochrane’s experiences as a prisoner-of-war medical officer and of the demands placed after the 1939-1945 war on the UK National Health Service. In the 1960s, reproductive medicine was considered by the UK Medical Research Council to be relatively ‘unscientific’ in its approach to care delivery and was described as such by Cochrane in the 1970s. Evidence is presented here that reproductive medicine responded, becoming by 1989 a pioneering clinical discipline in the application of evidence to practice. This was achieved largely through the efforts of Iain Chalmers, who was a key player in the development of the systematic review and in the foundation of the Cochrane collection., (Copyright © 2012 Reproductive Healthcare Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In medicine the changes in therapies are the evidence of the progress in knowledge. But many examples concerning the treatment of early spontaneous abortion, late abortion, menopause, contraception and infertility show that gynaecologists and obstetricians change their treatments just as fashion designers change their styles. My 'Corner' on this occasion is an appeal for caution and humility.