A British-Palestinian plastic surgeon accused by the UK doctors’ regulator of antisemitism and support for Hamas has been cleared after a three day hearing.The General Medical Council (GMC) brought the charges against Ghassan Abu-Sitta after a complaint by UK Lawyers for Israel.Abu-Sitta faced the allegations relating to an article he wrote in March 2018 in the Lebanese newspaper Al Akhbar that seemed to suggest collusion between Zionists and the Palestinian Authority and two reposts on Twitter (now X) that were said to be supportive of Hamas, an organisation proscribed in the UK under the Terrorism Act.But a medical practitioners tribunal decided that the allegations were not proved.1The tribunal said it was important to read the article through the lens of the audience it was intended for. “In this case, that would be those who could read Arabic and who had an understanding of the political issues and cultural history of…

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Clinicians should carry out a straightforward spine check during routine bone scans to help detect osteoporosis problems sooner, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended.In new draft guidance the medicine watchdog recommends that practitioners should carry out a vertebral fracture assessment during routine bone scans.1 This additional check, which takes only a few minutes, could help identify spine fractures and allow preventive measures to help avoid significant pain and disability from bone breaks later in life, it advises.An estimated 70% of spine fractures caused by osteoporosis currently go undiagnosed because often there are no clear symptoms initially, said NICE, which estimates that hidden spine fractures affect around 2.2 million people.The draft guidance said that clinicians should consider offering these checks during dual energy x ray absorptiometry (DXA) bone mineral density scans for people over 50. Evidence showed that this was a cost effective measure because it…

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