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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The NHS draft recommendation against routine prostate cancer screening stems from the conclusion that the harms would outweigh the benefits. Guidance continues to recommend against prostate cancer screening for men of any age, including those at higher risk, except for men with known BRCA1 or BRCA2 genetic mutations—a still untested strategy.How did the National Screening Committee (NSC) reach these recommendations? First, prostate specific antigen screening cannot preferentially identify those with clinically relevant prostate cancer, leading many healthy, asymptomatic men into unnecessary laboratory testing, imaging, and prostate biopsy. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a triage test may reduce both biopsies and unnecessary detection of low grade cancers but increases costs and complexity.1Second, prostate cancer is heterogeneous. Although the more aggressive phenotypes often metastasise and result in death, a large proportion of prostate cancers are grade group 1, which have little to no potential to progress or metastasise. These are unlikely to…

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He became a scientist because of the space race. Jeff Coller, Bloomberg distinguished professor of RNA biology and therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University, remembers visiting his grandmother’s house as a child, flicking through the latest issues of National Geographic—which might have new pictures of Jupiter or Saturn, for example, sent back to Earth from NASA’s intrepid Voyager probe. “That was inspiring,” he recalls. “This is what humanity can achieve. This is what Americans can achieve.”Today, however, Coller—who has published many papers on mRNA, including on its role in vaccines and therapeutics—has a very different feeling about American scientific progress, following a $500m funding cut to mRNA vaccine research.1 “It’s very disappointing and scary,” he says. The move was announced in August by the current US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has made multiple unfounded claims about vaccines.2Vaccines that use mRNA have been in development for decades.3 But most…

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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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Beardsell laments the rise of defensive medicine.1 I see this every day in clinical practice. From the very start of our careers, we are told to be “safe,” but safe has come to mean “leave nothing unchecked.” The result is a generation of doctors who reach for investigations before reasoning, because we have absorbed the lesson that a missed scan is more dangerous for our careers than a missed opportunity to trust our own judgment.What excites me about emergency medicine is its reliance on sharp thinking under pressure and the ability to weigh risk in real time. What unsettles me is how quickly that curiosity is replaced by fear. For juniors, the lesson is loud and clear: the greater danger is not overtesting but being the doctor whose name ends up in the complaint. That is the culture we inherit, and it risks hollowing out the very essence of our…

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The House of Lords Select Committee on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill recently heard evidence for safeguards within the bill, which has been subject to over 1000 amendments put forward by members.12 Any evaluation of proposed legislation must consider the instrumental value of a change in law for the public.2 If passed, the new legal framework for assisted dying would primarily affect terminally ill people. Still, the Lords Select Committee did not invite any evidence from terminally ill people. The omission of the patient voice in these discussions contradicts the essence of the bill, which seeks to safeguard the autonomy of dying patients.Legalisation of assisted dying continues to lag behind public opinion. The British Attitudes Survey has shown consistently since 1995 that nearly 80% of people think assisted dying should definitely or probably be allowed for terminally ill people.34 Should the bill be passed, the UK will…

The post Patient perspectives like mine are missing from the government’s assisted dying discussions first appeared on BMJ Group.

“The power of this article is rooted in the lived experience. It has been a privilege to work with True Vision to open up this dialogue beyond the walls of the NHS. It has helped me reclaim my voice and been healing.”

Dr Seema Haider
General practitioner partner & trainer, Haiderian Medical Centre, UK

The post Building a powerful advocacy voice first appeared on BMJ Group.