Special export licence approved in April, just weeks after British Prime Minister Theresa May visited BeijingMove comes amid closer exchanges between top radar scientists from China, Britain
The neural link between depression and sleep problems has been identified for the first time in a new study by researchers at the University of Warwick (UK) and Fudan University (China).
All patients in England suffering from a disease which causes blindness are to get access to a sight-saving drug. Lucentis treats age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of sight loss in the country.
A woman is suing her health trust after she was forced to conceive using a donated egg because of delays in her treatment. Greta Mason went into labour to give birth to a child conceived using a donor, her husband Chris said. Mrs Mason says she will bond with her baby regardless of the fact it was conceived using another woman's eggs. But she is suing Worthing and Southlands Primary Care Trust claiming unnecessary fertility tests led to a six-year wait for treatment, meaning her own eggs were too old to use.
A woman with multiple sclerosis has begun a High Court challenge to clarify the law on assisted suicide. Debbie Purdy, 45, from Bradford, is considering travelling to Switzerland - where assisted suicide is legal - to end her life. But she fears her husband, Omar Puente, could be prosecuted for going with her when he got back to the UK.
A widow is battling to use sperm taken from the body of her dead husband, in a British legal first. The woman, who cannot be named, wants to use sperm taken from her husband after he died unexpectedly during a routine hospital operation last year. The mother-of-one applied for an emergency court order allowing his sperm to be taken shortly after he died and it is now being stored in a clinic. The law allows sperm only to be used with the written consent of the donor.
BBC Radio 4's Law in Action will be broadcast on Friday 15 October, 2004 at 1600 GMT. Abortion law is under close scrutiny, after it was revealed that an NHS-funded charity is helping women to get illegal late abortions abroad.
The NHS drugs watchdog has loosened the terms of approval for expensive treatments that extend life in patients with a short life expectancy. Drugs that would normally be ruled out of use on the NHS because they did not represent a cost effective use of resources are now more likely to be made available.
The first British baby genetically-selected to be free of a breast cancer gene has been born. She grew from an embryo screened to ensure it did not contain the faulty BRCA 1 gene, which passes the risk of breast cancer down generations.
A leading British provider of abortions did not break the law when it told women who wanted late terminations about a clinic in Spain that would perform them, a report by Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer for England, concluded last week. Professor Donaldson investigated the charity the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) after a newspaper reported that it was illegally referring women to Spain for abortions after 24 weeks’ gestation, the limit in Britain for abortions for "social" reasons. Professor Donaldson has decided that BPAS did not break the law by telling women about the Spanish clinic. But he criticised it for giving out the clinic’s telephone number too readily and for not giving appropriate advice to women seeking a late abortion.
A woman with multiple sclerosis has lost her Appeal Court case to clarify the law on assisted suicide. Debbie Purdy, 45, from Bradford, is considering going to a Swiss clinic to end her life, but fears her husband may be charged on his return to the UK. She wanted clarification of where her husband, Omar Puente would stand legally if he helped her in any way. But Ms Purdy said after the ruling: "I feel that I have won my argument, despite having lost the appeal."
The NHS's spending watchdog acted unlawfully when it decided to restrict access to drugs that could help thousands of older women with the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, the high court ruled today. A judge ruled that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) wrongly failed to disclose the economic reasoning behind a decision in October to restrict the supply of strontium ranelate, a drug manufactured by Servier laboratories under the brand name Protelos.
An Australian doctor stopped at Heathrow Airport when he arrived to hold workshops on euthanasia has been granted leave to stay in UK. Philip Nitschke was interviewed under the Immigration and Asylum Act after arriving from Australia on Saturday. Dr Nitschke plans to hold a workshop in Bournemouth, Dorset, on Tuesday to talk about assisted suicide.
Parliamentarians will make a new attempt next month to amend the law to give protection from prosecution to friends and family members who help a terminally ill person travel outside the United Kingdom for assisted suicide.
Genetic tests for which the results are likely to have a big impact on the person being tested should be provided to the public only within the framework of a consultation with a medical practitioner, recommend draft principles for direct to consumer genetic tests. The number of genetic tests available on the open market has increased in the past few years and will continue to grow as the technology develops. The Human Genetics Commission, the UK government’s advisory body on developments in human genetics, set up a working group with expertise in regulation, clinical, and molecular genetics and genetic counselling. The group includes representatives from the genetic testing industry and will develop a framework of "high level principles" to promote consistency in the provision of direct to consumer genetic tests at an international level.
Doctors should apologise and provide explanations to patients and their relatives when treatment goes wrong, according to guidance from the NHS Litigation Authority, the body which defends the NHS against legal claims for clinical negligence. The letter from (KCL MA MEL alumnus) Stephen Walker. the authority’s chief executive, replaces an earlier circular that warned NHS bodies to take care when providing explanations "so as to avoid future litigation risks."
A couple have spoken of their shock after an IVF clinic mix-up led to their last embryo being wrongly implanted into another patient. They were further angered when it emerged the other woman was given the morning-after pill. The couple from Bridgend won their case for damages after the mistake at Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales. Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust apologised "unreservedly" for the error and said it had improved checking procedures. The trust admitted gross failures in care and has also agreed to pay an undisclosed settlement to the couple.
A trainee teacher with primary refractory Hodgkin’s lymphoma has launched a High Court action against her primary care trust, NHS Surrey, which has refused to pay for her treatment with an unlicensed drug. Philippa Bigham, aged 28, from Frimley, Surrey, has been given a prognosis of two years’ survival without a bone marrow transplantation. But her medical team at the Royal Free Hospital in London want her to have treatment with radiolabelled basiliximab, a monoclonal antibody conjugated with radioactive iodine and also known as CHT-25, before she has the transplantation. The primary care trust has refused to pay for the drug, which costs £3000 ({euro}3500; $4900) for a course of treatment. Basiliximab is licensed in the United Kingdom for use in renal transplant rejection but the radiolabelled version is not yet licensed.
A mother of a prominent ME sufferer and campaigner has admitted aiding and abetting the suicide of her daughter. Bridget Kathleen Gilderdale, 54, of Stonegate, near Heathfield, Sussex, pleaded guilty to the charge at Lewes Crown Court. But she denied a charge of attempted murder and one of aiding and abetting attempted suicide.
Bridget Kathleen Gilderdale, 54, known as Kay, was arrested at her home in Stonegate, near Heathfield, East Sussex, following the death of her daughter Lynn, 31, who suffered from ME, on 4 December last year. She pleaded guilty to the charge during a brief hearing at Lewes Crown Court today, but denied a charge of attempted murder and one of aiding and abetting attempted suicide. She is alleged to have committed the offences against her daughter, who was struck down with ME at the age of 14, between 2 December and 5 December.
A "considered" and "objective" debate is needed on assisted suicide, the head of the Royal College of Nursing says. It comes after the RCN, which has 400,000 members, shifted its stance on the matter to be neutral.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has dropped its opposition to the concept of helping patients to commit suicide. The college has now adopted a neutral stance, neither supporting nor opposing a change in the law.
A LESBIAN couple have won the right to IVF on the NHS after a legal tussle, ahead of laws that will put same-sex patients on an equal footing with heterosexuals. The couple, who remain anonymous, had to go through a legal fight to push the NHS to fund IVF because, at the moment, individual trusts decide whether they wish to pay for treatment for lesbians. The couple were initially refused IVF by their primary care trust because they were of the same sex. One of the women had polycystic ovarian syndrome, which disrupts ovulation, and is one of the most common causes of infertility. From October, clinics will no longer be able to block lesbians by referring to a child’s “need for a father”. Instead, same-sex couples will need to demonstrate only that they can offer “supportive parenting”.
It is three years since the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority reviewed its guidelines for sperm, egg and embryo donation in the appropriately acronymed SEED report. But reproductive medicine has moved on so swiftly that Professor Lisa Jardine, who took over last April as the authority’s chairman, believes that it is time to return to the issue. In an interview with The Times she called for a fresh debate on two of the most controversial aspects of donation. First on her agenda is the question of when family members should be allowed to donate to one another. She is concerned about intergenerational donation, such as in two cases in 2007. In one, a Briton aged 72 provided sperm to his daughter-in-law, while in the other a Canadian, Melanie Boivin, froze eggs for her daughter, Flavie, 7, who has Turner syndrome and will become infertile.
Campaigner Debbie Purdy has called for an "open debate" on assisted suicide laws after her landmark court victory. Prosecutors are to clarify the law after Law Lords backed Ms Purdy's call for formal advice on the legal position of those who help a loved one to die.
The government says it will ban all private transplants of organs from dead donors in the UK. The move comes after media reports of overseas patients paying to get onto the waiting list for organs donated by British people. An independent report said organs were scarce and no one should be able to pay for transplants, to ensure NHS patients did not miss out. Surgeons said it should reassure people organs went to those in most need.
Keir Starmer, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service, is to clarify whether people should be prosecuted for aiding a suicide following a landmark ruling by the Law Lords last week. It had been assumed that this guidance would affect only cases in which friends or relatives helped people to die abroad, such as at the Dignitas clinic in Zurich. However, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Starmer said the “broad principles” of his new guidelines would apply equally to acts of assisted suicide planned and carried out at home.
A government source said: "Parliament is currently divided on this issue, but it may be that after Starmer produces his guidance, politicians will recognise that this is an ethical issue that cannot be left" to the Crown Prosecution Service alone.
More than 80% of NHS primary care trusts in England fail to offer the recommended three free cycles of IVF to infertile couples, an MP has claimed. The Department of Health says 30% of PCTs provide three cycles of the fertilisation treatment. But Tory MP Grant Shapps, who has contacted every PCT, says these figures are out of date. A "postcode lottery" operates, with rules on age, relationships and other children varying widely, he insists. In some cases women who would be deemed too old for treatment by one PCT would be seen as too young by another.
The director of public prosecutions (DPP) must spell out clearly his policy on prosecuting people in England and Wales who help friends or relatives go abroad for assisted suicide, the UK’s highest court has ruled. The unanimous judgment from five law lords is a victory for Debbie Purdy, who has primary progressive multiple sclerosis and wants her husband to help her travel to Switzerland—where assisted suicide is lawful—when she decides to die.
The government has announced a ban on patients paying for private transplant surgery using organs donated within the NHS. Ministers have accepted the recommendations of an independent report commissioned by the government after concerns that foreign patients were bypassing lengthy NHS waiting lists by paying up to £75 000 ({euro}90 000; $130 000) for a transplantation. Earlier this year it was revealed that the livers of 50 British NHS donors were transplanted into foreign patients over a two year period, with the bulk of the operations taking place in London at King’s College Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital.
But there is evidence that some clinicians may already be using continuous deep sedation (CDS), as a form of "slow euthanasia". Research suggests use of CDS in Britain is particularly high - accounting for about one in six of all deaths.
Lawyers seek clarification on role of UK doctors in assisted suicide: The UK Medical Protection Society says it will question MPs in the autumn on whether doctors may be prosecuted if they provide medical reports about a patient’s condition or fitness to travel knowing that this information will be passed to clinics such as Dignitas that help people end their life. They are also seeking clarification on whether doctors have a duty to report a patient’s intentions to the authorities.
Patients with rarer forms of cancer may have been denied potentially life-saving drugs due to a postcode lottery, campaigners said today. A study by the Rarer Cancers Forum found patients faced a postcode lottery when requesting drugs that had not been licensed for their condition, with many people being refused treatment.
Post-mortem examinations have been suspended at Wales' biggest hospital after inspectors found major problems. The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) highlighted problems in procedures, facilities and equipment at University Hospital of Wales (UHW) in Cardiff. The HTA said it did not take such action lightly, and Conservatives called it an "extreme step".
A distraught Newtownards father is today set to take his battle for a liver transplant for his severely ill son to the High Court. But while his legal team argue for a judicial review of a rule requiring alcoholics to be off drink for six months before being considered for a life-saving transplant, devoted dad Brian Anderson will travel to King’s Hospital in London to see his son Gareth.
Northern Ireland Health Minister Michael McGimpsey has said he cannot change organ transplant rules to allow Gareth Anderson to be added to the waiting list. Mr McGimpsey said guidelines state that he has to be alcohol free for six months before going on the organ list. “There are not enough livers to go around and the reason behind that guidance is that to be sure that precious gift isn't destroyed by alcohol immediately after, or soon after, the transplant occurs,” he said.
A couple have spoken of their utter devastation after a fertility clinic mix-up led to their last viable embryo being implanted into another woman. Debra and Paul, from Bridgend, have received damages of about £25,000 after the error in December 2007.
Fertilising eggs from the wrong sperm donor is a nightmare scenario for IVF clinics, which came to light in the case of a white woman in Leeds who found herself giving birth to black twins in 2002. But The Report's Nadene Ghouri has since found a routine neglect of safeguards to prevent such mix-ups at a major London hospital led one embryologist to turn whistle-blower.
The 2009 Equality Bill will, if enacted, make age based discrimination in the provision of health care and social care illegal for the first time in the United Kingdom. In a speech in 2008, the then health secretary, Alan Johnson, said, "Old age is the new middle age. Health and social care services need to adapt to the changing needs of today’s older people . . . to promote health in old age and help older people to maintain independence and quality of life."
A man serving a life sentence for a double murder has won a High Court victory over his right to have cosmetic surgery on the NHS. Denis Harland Roberts, 59, currently in a Co Durham jail for killing an elderly couple in East Sussex in 1989, wanted treatment to remove a birthmark. An undisclosed policy operated by Justice Secretary Jack Straw had restricted non-urgent inmate treatment. The case may mean other inmates are considered for similar treatments. However, the Prison Service said it was still "entitled to refuse escorts to hospital on grounds of risk". On Wednesday, London's High Court declared the justice secretary acted unlawfully and "contrary to good administration" in failing to disclose his full policy on medical appointments.
It is not just friends and family who want clarity about potential criminal prosecutions for helping someone travel abroad for an assisted suicide - doctors too may face criminal proceedings for offering advice or assistance under the current law. In this week's Scrubbing Up, the Medical Defence Union's Dr James Armstrong warns that doctors may be putting their livelihood and liberty on the line by becoming involved.
The refusal to move a pre-operative transsexual prisoner from a men's jail to a women's prison is a violation of her human rights, says the High Court. Deputy Judge David Elvin QC quashed Justice Secretary Jack Straw's decision to keep the 27-year-old, who cannot be identified, in a male prison.
People who stand to benefit financially from a person’s death are likely to be the ones prosecuted for assisting a suicide, under guidelines to be issued this week. The law will remain unchanged but new rules will detail the factors that are likely to lead to a prosecution, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said yesterday. Keir Starmer, QC, drew them up after the law lords backed Debbie Purdy, a multiple sclerosis sufferer who called for a policy statement on whether people who helped someone to kill themselves should be prosecuted. The policy, which will be issued on Wednesday, will aim to clarify when individuals are more likely to be prosecuted or more likely not to be, he said.
Guidelines on assisted suicide law will be published by the Director of Public Prosecutions this week to clarify when people are likely to be prosecuted. Keir Starmer QC told the BBC factors that would be considered included whether anyone helping in the suicide stood to gain financially. He said assisted suicide would remain an offence as the law was unchanged.
Britain To Clarify Policy on Euthanasia - Prosecution Factors Will Be Spelled Out By Karla Adam Special to The Washington Post Wednesday, September 23, 2009
LONDON — Assisted suicide has been illegal in England for nearly 50 years. But, ordered by the courts to clarify the law, the country’s top prosecutor on Wednesday set out a list of conditions under which his office would be unlikely to prosecute people who helped friends or relatives kill themselves.
Campaigners hailed the guidelines as a victory for common sense. But “right to life” groups said that he had exceeded his authority. Groups from the Law Society to Dignity in Dying insisted that Parliament should still legislate. Mr Starmer said the list of factors weighing in favour or against a prosecution did not mean that assisted suicide was no longer a criminal offence. Lord Falconer of Thoroton, a former Lord Chancellor and the first Justice Secretary, who tried recently to reform the law, hailed the DPP’s guidelines as a “very, very significant step” and said he had “unquestionably changed the law”. “He has done what the law lords ordered him to do — give certainty to people as to what will happen if they decide to help their loved ones to die.”
Plans to relax the laws on assisted suicide have been thrown into doubt after a group of lawyers questioned the role of Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Britain’s most senior judge. Lawyers from campaign group the Christian Legal Centre want the advice to be put on hold because of Lord Phillips’ personal sympathy those calling for the rules on assisted suicide to be realxed, which emerged weeks after the judgement was handed down.
Doctors were forced to allow a young woman to die as she had made a "living will" requesting no medical help if she attempted suicide. They would have risked breaking the law by treating Kerrie Wooltorton, 26, of Norwich, an inquest heard. Miss Wooltorton wrote her living will in September 2007, asking for no intervention if she tried to take her own life.
The single greatest change to affect the UK fertility sector in nearly two decades will take place tomorrow, Thursday 1 October, as the new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 (as amended) comes into force. Changes which will come into effect with the new legislation include: * increasing the length of time people can store their embryos * a ‘cooling off’ period if one partner withdraws consent for embryo storage * extending information access rights for donor conceived people and donors * opening the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s (HFEA) Register for research * introducing supportive parenting into the welfare of the child provisions * banning sex selection for non medical reasons * clarifying the scope of embryo research
Mistakes and near misses in fertility treatment are recorded by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority but until now details of the most serious cases have been kept secret. Eight of these mistakes were given grade A status, meaning they were the most serious incidents could involve events such as embryo mix ups, the death of a patient or an incident which affects a number of patients, for example, when a storage unit malfunctions and all embryos are defrosted and lost. In 2007/8 two of the eight grade A incidents involved mix-ups. A spokesman refused to give details but said they could be cases where the wrong sperm was used to fertilise and embryo or the wrong embryo was defrosted for use, but neither involved the implantation of wrong embryos. Last year there were 182 incidents out fo 52,000 cycles of treatment provided in Britain, the HFEA said.
New guidelines issued by the UK General Medical Council (GMC) will allow doctors to disclose genetic information to relatives - even when patients object, if there are compelling medical reasons for doing so. The guidance, which comes into effect on 12 October, acknowledges that confidentiality is not always absolute; disclosing information about a genetic link to a disease may protect another individual from serious harm. For example, if a patient is diagnosed with a hereditary form of cancer, a doctor will now be able to inform relatives about the potential risk the genetic link could carry. Awareness of such a genetic risk could prompt investigation for the genetic mutation responsible and regular screening, thereby improving the chance of early detection and long-term prognosis.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence proposes to reject a breast cancer drug despite its own rule changes on end-of-life treatments Wednesday 21 October 2009 18.11 BST A drug which can give women with advanced breast cancer extra weeks or months of life has been turned down by a government watchdog body for use in the NHS. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) says it proposes to reject Tyverb (lapatinib) in spite of changes in the rules brought in specifically to allow people at the end of their lives to have the chance of new and often expensive treatments. Tyverb is the only drug licensed for women with advanced breast cancer whose tumours test positive for a protein called HER2 and for whom Herceptin, a Nice-approved drug, is no longer working. In much of the rest of Europe, Tyverb is then given, in combination with a standard chemotherapy drug called capecitabine.
Around a third of doctors say they have given drugs to terminally ill patients or withdrawn treatment, knowing or intending that it would shorten their life. A study of doctors in charge of the last hours of almost 3,000 people finds decisions almost always have to be made on whether to give drugs to relieve pain that could shorten life and whether to continue resuscitation and artificial feeding. In 211 cases (7.4%), doctors say they gave drugs or stopped treatment to speed the patient's death. In 825 cases (28.9%), doctors made a decision on treatment that they knew would probably or certainly hasten death. One in 10 patients asked their doctor to help them die faster. What doctors do varies according to their religious beliefs, according to Prof Clive Seale, who carried out the research. But, he said, there was no evidence of a "slippery slope": that deaths of the most vulnerable, such as very elderly women and those with dementia, are being hastened more than others.
A father is fighting a hospital's attempt to withdraw support keeping his baby son alive. The one-year-old, known as Baby RB for legal reasons, was born with a rare, genetic muscle condition that makes it hard for him to breathe independently. His parents are going to the High Court - the mother is reportedly supporting the hospital's bid. The father's lawyers argue that the boy's brain is unaffected, meaning he can see, hear, interact and play. Despite having to remain in hospital and being dependent on a ventilator to breathe, he enjoys having stories read to him and listening to music, they say. The lawyers are submitting video footage to the court, which they say shows him playing with his toys. But the hospital says that Baby RB's quality of life is so low that it would not be in his best interests to try to save him. Baby RB was born with congenital myasthenic syndrome and has been in hospital since birth.
A father whose son was born with a rare neuromuscular condition will go to the high court tomorrow in an attempt to stop a hospital withdrawing the support that keeps the child alive. Doctors treating the one-year-old say the boy's quality of life is so poor that it would not be in his best interests to save him. They are reportedly being supported in their action by the baby's mother, who is separated from his father. The child, known for legal reasons as Baby RB, was born with congenital myasthenic syndrome (CMS), a muscle condition that severely limits movement and the ability to breathe independently. He has been in hospital since birth. If the hospital succeeds in its application, it will be the first time a British court has gone against the wishes of a parent and ruled that life support can be discontinued or withdrawn from a child who does not have brain damage.
A one-year-old boy at the centre of a "right-to-life" legal dispute would not benefit from an operation to help him breathe, the High Court has been told. The child, known as Baby RB, has a rare, genetic condition that makes it hard for him to breathe independently. But a leading paediatrician, known as Dr F, said he was "not a candidate" for surgery to try to open up his airway. Baby RB's father is fighting a hospital's attempt - backed by the mother - to withdraw his life support.
A doctor has agreed a baby in a "right-to-life" legal row may be able to interact - but any mental development would only make his fate more tragic. The paediatric neurologist told the High Court the severely disabled child, Baby RB, would remain in a "no chance" situation even if he developed further. He questioned the life the boy would lead if he was capable of cognitive function but physically so disabled.
A doctor has said that a baby in a "right-to-life" legal row has the potential to communicate and even operate a wheelchair in years to come. The paediatric neurologist, Professor Fenella Kirkham, told the High Court that Baby RB had the normal intelligence of a one-year-old. She said he was likely to develop language recognition skills and he may be better off at home. The boy's father is fighting an attempt by the hospital to end life support.
Hospital patients in England will get the legal right to be seen privately if they face NHS delays. Hospitals have to start treating patients within 18 weeks of referral - or two weeks in the case of cancer. But ministers will now give patients a legal right to private care - or treatment at another NHS centre if so desired - if this does not happen. The Tories, who would scrap waiting time targets, said it was an "unaffordable and uncosted" pledge.
A father who had been fighting to stop a hospital withdrawing life support from his seriously ill son has dropped his objections. The one-year-old, known as Baby RB for legal reasons, was born with a rare, genetic muscle condition that makes it hard for him to breathe independently. The hospital was backed by the baby's mother. But the move had been strongly opposed by the child's father at a High Court hearing. However, the father changed his mind after hearing medical evidence which suggested it would be in the best interests of the child if medical support was withdrawn. Lawyers for the health authority caring for the baby in intensive care told Mr Justice McFarlane: "All of the parties in court now agree that it would be in RB's best interests for the course suggested by the doctors to be followed."
A father who went to the High Court to try to stop a hospital turning off his seriously ill baby son's life support machine has dropped his objections to the move. The outcome has prompted a mixture of sadness and relief. For six days they had sat in the bland surroundings of Court 50 at London's High Court listening to others talking about their baby son's quality of life. A host of paediatricians, nurses, and experts went into the witness box. Many of them urged a judge to decide that this profoundly disabled 13-month-old boy should be allowed to die. It was, they said, no longer in his best interests to keep him alive.
The Labour party is urging the Scottish parliament to take action to standardise IVF provision across Scotland, after Labour MSP Jackie Baillie discovered wide disparities in provision between the 11 Scottish NHS boards. Ms Baillie contacted all of the boards after having been approached by a constituent who was upset about the length of IVF waiting lists where they lived.
A serious blunder at one of Britain's top fertility clinics dramatically increased the risk its patients would suffer a miscarriage or give birth to a child with serious health problems, sparking fresh fears about how IVF centres are run in the wake of a series of scandals. Unscreened sperm used by staff at the London Women's Clinic (LWC) to create dozens of embryos was later found to have a chromosome abnormality that could have been passed on to any unborn child, The Independent on Sunday has learnt. The British Fertility Society's screening guidelines make it clear that the clinic should never have accepted the donor. At least one couple suffered a miscarriage as a direct result.
Lack of regulation and "professional greed" is putting patients undergoing cosmetic surgery at more risk than ever before, a leading doctor warns. Nigel Mercer, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, called the cosmetic surgery industry an "unregulated mess". Tighter control is needed to clamp down on issues such as two-for-one offers and untested products, he said. His views are backed by several doctors writing in the Clinical Risk journal.
The family of a man left severely brain damaged by a hospital trust's failure to diagnose meningitis promptly have been awarded £3.2m for his future care. Mark Thomas, of Walsall, in the West Midlands, developed an ear infection, which led to the meningitis in 2002. His parents took him for blood tests at Walsall Manor Hospital but the results were not reviewed for five days. Without the delay, Mr Thomas, 20, would not have been left brain damaged, Birmingham High Court was told earlier.
With a national shortage of organ donors, the dilemma faced by surgeons is whether a transplant with what are called "marginal" organs from donors who could be higher risk, such as the elderly or patients with a history of cancer or drug abuse, is better than leaving a patient on a waiting list where they could die before a suitable donor can be found. Figures disclosed to File on 4 reveal that in 1998 13% of donor organs were "marginal", 10 years later this percentage had doubled. Everyone in the transplant field who has talked to the programme agreed the quality of organs from deceased donors was declining, accepting this meant added risks connected to the hearts, lungs, livers and kidneys used for transplants. As one doctor put it, this is a calculated gamble. Arising out of this comes the issue of informed consent. Who should have the final say whether an organ from a dead donor should be used, the professional or the patient?
Anti-abortion campaigners have won a High Court challenge to clarify government guidelines on abortion in Northern Ireland. The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (Spuc) claimed guidance to health professionals was misleading and legally inaccurate. The High Court ruled the Department of Health's guidelines be withdrawn. The court found the guidelines failed to deal properly with counselling and conscientious objection. The judge, Lord Justice Girvan, stopped short of quashing the document issued by the Department of Health in March. Spuc was seeking a declaration that the decision to publish the advice to health professionals was unlawful.
The Medical Protection Society (MPS) is seeking clarification about the position of doctors who become aware that their patient is considering ending their life in circumstances that might amount to criminal charges. The recent House of Lords decision requiring the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to look at the factors which would be taken into account in deciding whether to bring a prosecution in such cases is helpful. Much of the debate so far has focused on whether relatives or spouses should face prosecution for assisted suicide, but there also needs to be discussion over the difficult position health professionals may find themselves in. Currently, most patients will travel outside the UK, for example to the Swiss clinic Dignitas for an assisted suicide.
A powerful arthritis drug, judged too expensive for patients in England and Wales, has been approved in Scotland. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (Nice) provisionally ruled that Tocilizumab was too costly for NHS patients south of the border. However, the body's Scottish equivalent has recommended patients in Scotland be treated with the drug.
A mother has been found not guilty of the attempted murder of her severely ill daughter who had ME. Bridget Kathleen Gilderdale, 55, of Stonegate, East Sussex, was cleared of attempting to murder Lynn Gilderdale by jurors at Lewes Crown Court. Gilderdale had previously admitted aiding and abetting the suicide of her 31-year-old daughter and was given a 12-month conditional discharge.
The British Medical Association and the General Medical Council have already made it abundantly clear that they want no part in voluntary euthanasia becoming a clinical practice. Now the estimable Royal College of Physicians, the professional body representing over 20,000 physicians that “aims to improve the quality of patient care by continually raising medical standards”, has weighed in with a strongly worded letter to the DPP. “We would go so far as to say”, writes the College’s Registrar, Dr Rodney Burnham, “that any clinician who has been part, in any way, of assisting a suicide death should be subject to prosecution.” Dr Burnham continues: “The trust afforded doctors and nurses in particular gives their views considerable weight with their patients and the public. Clinicians’ duties of care entail active pursuit of alternative solutions to assisted suicide, not its facilitation.”
Thousands of patients are suing AstraZeneca in US courts, claiming the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel caused weight gain and diabetes. The patients allege Seroquel, its second biggest selling drug worth $4.5bn (£2.7bn) a year, was marketed without adequate warning about possible side effects such as massive weight gain and the development of diabetes. However, this is denied by the company.
A question has arisen as to whether it was in the public interest for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to have prosecuted Kay Gilderdale for attempted murder. This is an important question and, in the interests of transparency and accountability, I have decided to issue a short public answer. As is well known, before proceeding with a case, the CPS must be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and that it is in the public interest to bring the case before a court.
Sir Terry Pratchett has said he's ready to be a test case for assisted suicide "tribunals" which could give people legal permission to end their lives. The author, who has Alzheimer's, says he wants a tribunal set up to help those with incurable diseases end their lives with help from doctors. A poll for BBC One's Panorama suggests most people support assisted suicide for someone who is terminally ill.
FERTILITY regulators have triggered a new row over designer babies by allowing doctors to destroy embryos affected by more than 100 genetic conditions, including many illnesses that are not life-threatening. The genetic “defects” that can now be routinely screened out include conditions carried by a number of leading figures, such as Pete Sampras, the tennis champion, and Sergei Rachmaninoff, the Russian concert pianist and composer. In some cases it will mean the elimination of an embryo that has been identified as carrying genetic material inherited from a stricken grandparent, but which may not necessarily develop the same illness. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), has published a list of 116 inherited conditions that fertility clinics can screen out without requiring special permission.
The article in the Sunday Times last week ‘Embryos destroyed for minor disorders’ was inaccurate and misleading and could cause confusion and distress for those families undergoing or considering IVF treatment with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). PGD is licensed only for serious medical conditions which severely threaten the future health and wellbeing of children. It is not a ‘routine’ procedure. In 2007, out of nearly 37,000 patients who received fertility treatment, 169 had PGD, fewer than one in 200. Embryos are tested when they are just three days old and made up of about eight cells. They are not at the developed stage of the foetus as shown in the photograph.Finally, to suggest that embryos are destroyed for ‘minor conditions’ which would require ‘unpleasant treatment’ is not only misleading, it is disrespectful both to those living with the condition, and those seeking to avoid passing on these serious conditions to their children.
Scientists have been able to reach into the mind of a brain-damaged man and communicate with his thoughts. The research, carried out in the UK and Belgium, involved a new brain scanning method. Awareness was detected in three other patients previously diagnosed as being in a vegetative state. The study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that scans can detect signs of awareness in patients thought to be closed off from the world. Patients in a vegetative state are awake, not in a coma, but have no awareness because of severe brain damage. The scientists used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) which shows brain activity in real time.
Two daughters who sat with their mother for four days as she lay dying will not be charged with assisted suicide. Jane Aiken Hodge, 91, who had high blood pressure and mild leukaemia, held a “Do not resuscitate” card. She wrote a letter to her GP saying she did not want to be revived when she took an overdose of sleeping pills in June last year. Michael Jennings, a reviewing lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, said that he was satisfied the death was an independent suicide.
Should those with incurable illnesses be allowed to choose how and when they die? In his Richard Dimbleby lecture, author Terry Pratchett, who has Alzheimer's disease, makes a plea for a common-sense solution. This is an edited extract of Terry Pratchett's Richard Dimbleby lecture, Shaking Hands With Death, which was broadcast on BBC1 on 1 February
Police are to investigate claims made by a BBC broadcaster that he killed a former partner who was terminally ill. Ray Gosling told the East Midlands' Inside Out programme, broadcast last night, that he had agreed to smother his lover, who was living with Aids, if his suffering became too intense. Gosling said that his partner had been in hospital in "terrible pain" when a doctor told him there was nothing more that could be done. He said that he asked the doctor to leave them alone and then, "I picked up the pillow and smothered him until he was dead". A spokeswoman for Nottinghamshire police said the force had not been aware of the issue until the broadcaster made his revelation on television last night. "We are now liaising with the BBC and will investigate the matter,".
A TV presenter's on-air confession that he killed his ailing lover is to be investigated by Nottinghamshire Police. Ray Gosling, 70, told the BBC's Inside Out programme he had smothered the unnamed man who was dying of Aids. Pressure group Care Not Killing said it was "bizarre" the BBC had not told police of the admission when it was filmed in December. The BBC said it was under no obligation to report to police ahead of broadcast but would co-operate with the inquiry. During a documentary on death and dying the Nottingham filmmaker said he had made a pact with his lover to act if his suffering increased. In the BBC East Midlands programme, broadcast on Monday, he told how he smothered the man with a pillow while he was in hospital after doctors told him that there was nothing further that could be done for him.
TV presenter Ray Gosling has been arrested on suspicion of murder by Nottinghamshire Police after he admitted killing his lover. The 70-year-old's confession that he had smothered the unnamed man who was dying of Aids was broadcast on the BBC's Inside Out programme on Monday. The Nottingham filmmaker said he had made a pact with his lover to act if his suffering increased. Police are questioning the presenter over his claims.
Ray Gosling, the veteran TV presenter who confessed on television to suffocating a gay lover in a mercy killing, said today he would refuse to answer police questions – "even under torture" – about whom he killed, when and where.
Detectives have been given another 12 hours to question a BBC presenter who said he killed his terminally ill lover. Ray Gosling, 70, was arrested on Tuesday morning after he told a BBC documentary he had smothered the man, who he said was dying of Aids. Mr Gosling's solicitor said his client had still not named the individual to police.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has decided there is insufficient evidence to bring charges against any individual in relation to the death of Jane Hodge on 17 June 2009. Mrs Hodge, 91, died following an overdose of prescribed drugs at her home in Lewes, East Sussex. Her death was referred to the coroner as a suicide and subsequently Sussex Police launched an investigation into her death. A file of evidence was submitted to the CPS in August 2009 and the case considered under the Code for Crown Prosecutors. The Code requires a prosecutor to first decide if there is enough evidence to proceed with a charge. If there is, the prosecutor must then consider if it is in the public interest to do so.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, has today called for final contributions to his public consultation on his interim policy for prosecutors in respect of cases of assisted suicide. He said: "I have already received over 2000 responses from both individuals and organisations since I published my interim policy in September, which I am sure is an indication of the strong views many people hold on this issue. I urge those who may still want to contribute to send their views to my assisted suicide policy team. All the responses will be considered when drafting the final policy." The consultation is due to close at 5:00pm on Wednesday 16 December with the final policy due for publication in spring 2010. Until the final policy is published, the interim policy will be applied to all cases.
Broadcaster Ray Gosling, who said in a BBC television programme that he had killed his terminally ill lover, has been released on police bail. Mr Gosling, 70, was arrested on Wednesday morning on suspicion of murder after his comments were aired on the BBC's Inside Out programme. In Monday's documentary he said he had smothered the man, who he said was dying of Aids. His solicitor said his client had not named the individual to police.
Today I am publishing the Crown Prosecution Service’s policy on encouraging or assisting suicide. When it passed the Suicide Act 1961, Parliament specifically required discretion to be exercised in every case and my consent is needed before any prosecution for assisted suicide can be brought. In the case brought by Debbie Purdy last year, the House of Lords understood that. It did not question whether there should be a discretion to prosecute or not. But, accepting that discretion, it required me, as DPP, to “clarify what [my] position is as to the factors that [I] regard as relevant for and against prosecution”.
On 25 February, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, launched the Policy for Prosecutors in respect of cases of Encouraging or Assisting Suicide.
New guidelines over whether people would face prosecution over assisting suicide place closer scrutiny on a suspect's motivation. Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, said whether a person acted "wholly compassionately" and not for financial reasons was important. But he made it clear the advice does not represent a change in the law and does not cover so-called mercy killing.