eLetters

175 e-Letters

  • I'm 16 years old and have experienced the Choking Game
    Lyndsey M.G Holmes

    Hi my name is Lyndsey, I am 16 and my Mother Cindy recently told me about the choking game. I have had some experiences with this game. The only difference is that my friends and I would call it Black Out.

    How we would start out playing this game is, we would sit on the ground with our knees up and leaning over with our elbows on our knees. We would then take really hard breaths in and out until we couldn't h...

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  • The Passing Out Game
    Cindy G. Holmes

    Dear Editor,

    I watched the Fifth Estate program which aired March 15, 2006 and I was saddened to hear of the parents who lost their children but also saddened on how naive our system is to overlook what the truth really is. I felt compelled to call the coroner myself and tell him about my story growing up when we called the Choking Game, the Passing Out Game. My friends and I didn't use objects around our necks...

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  • ER data just as bad
    John Langley

    Shepherd and Sivarajasingam provide a range of compelling reasons why police records of violence should not be used to measure underlying trends in violence. Essentially there are major threats to validity. They do not discuss potential means to reduce this threat. They also identify significant similar threats to validity of emergency department data but do not say how these should be addressed. They then conclude: "G...

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  • "Hear, hear"
    Verona Beckles

    Dear Editor

    Just wanted to say that I currently work as a junior orthopaedic surgeon in a London teaching hospital. My aim is to combine a career in surgery with one in injury prevention as many of my counterparts in low and middle income countries do.

    On July 7th this year I was working at the Royal London Hospital and worked alongside many brilliant people in the effort to treat the patients predomina...

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  • It's not poverty ; that explanation is not even exoneration
    les fisher

    I was concerned to see an editorial offering one opinion reduced to poverty breeds terroism.

    Suicide bombing can not be excused on any grounds; moreover, the suicide killers of civilians are not usually from the poverty cohorts of London, Iraq, NYC , nor Palestine. Such redutionist viewpoints give aid to those who would have humanitarian concerns twisted. One can not equate anything to such killings nor the...

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  • More on "Traffic Safety" by Leonard Evans
    Leonard Evans

    Dear Editor

    While difficult to disentangle what is getting Robertson so enraged, the following four possibilities seem likely candidates.

    1. He denies my claim [1, p. 381-388] that US safety policy has been a dramatic failure.

    2. He disagrees with my explanation [1, p 389-408] that the litigation focus of US safety policy has contributed to this dramatic failure.

    3. He di...

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  • Comments on Evan's letter #2
    Leon S. Robertson

    Dear Editor,

    I must add to Leonard Evan's "to do" list. After getting his skin thickened, he needs courses in English comprehension and basic epidemiology.

    In my letter, I said that I gave "far more" than my litigation fees for scholarships and a professorship, contrary to his claim that it all came from litigation fees. I doubt that "far more" means something in England, where Evans apparently learned...

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  • Comments on Robertson's reply
    Leonard Evans

    Dear Editor,

    Once again I am indebted to Robertson for adding support to my central thesis. The fact that a chair bearing his name is endowed with his litigation profits underlines the unique influence of litigation in the US approach to traffic safety. In what other country does this happen?

    In some states, such as Texas, it is illegal for juries to know that an injured plaintiff was not wearing a safety...

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  • Author's reply: Robertson's review of "Traffic Safety" by Leonard Evans
    Leon S. Robertson

    Dear Editor,

    Leonard Evans obviously dislikes my less than totally favourable review of his book. My review noted several sensible sections in the book, but several nonsensical ones as well. My reference to self-publication of the book was only to point out that it would have benefited from peer review. His assertions in his letter regarding me and my income are patently false. He needs a skin transplant. His is t...

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  • Authors' response to letter from David Huff
    Allan F. Williams

    Dear Editor:

    David Huff[1] either didn’t read our article carefully or didn’t comprehend it. Besides mischaracterizing us as “experts at crash tests” (we are behavioural scientists, while engineers at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety direct crash testing), Huff misstates what we say, claiming we are “at a loss” as to how to improve driver education and want it eliminated from high schools.

    What...

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