effects of lockdown
Hitting the headlines
As I mentioned last week, it’s astonishing how frequently medical ethical issues hit the news. Evidence, evidence! I hear you cry. OK. More detail it is. But of course, do bear in mind that the media rely on sensation to sell papers.
I’d prefer to show you the actual headlines, but given the legal issues around copyright, I’ll just list a few recent ones this year alone.
* Starmer will allow assisted dying vote
* Petition spurs MPs to tackle assisted dying
* France will allow at-home dying for terminally ill
* UK travel to assisted dying clinic falls to 12-year low
*Fears that fertility unit has destroyed embryos
* NHS chiefs accused of covering up clinic’s embryo destruction
* Gender identity is a religion, so why is Scotland legislating on it?
* UK’s only trans judge quits over fears she has politicised the role
* School nurse states not all people who give birth are women
* Caitlyn Jenner: Trans women are not women
* Italian trans man found to be pregnant after mastectomy
* Late-term DIY abortions will rise if law changes
* New late abortion guidance tells health staff to avoid reporting women to police
* 20,000 prostate cancer cases missed in Covid
* Children still suffering effects of lockdown
* Patients suing NHS over missed cancer diagnoses rise by 50pc
* Hospitals told to drop physician associates
Every one of these issues raises so many questions, and such a range of challenges. Every one indicates the appetite of the public for this kind of information. Every one could easily spark a storyline for another novel in my series. And sometimes indeed fiction is more believable than truth.
Will I? Won’t I? … time will tell!
(Thanks to Shutterstock for the two question images)