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At least 38 baby deaths in nine years after serious incidents in Irish maternity units

At least 38 babies died in the space of nine years after serious incidents in the country’s maternity units, it has emerged.

The total is based on research of both media reports of inquests and settled claims.

Before Christmas, a review by the  Irish Examiner  revealed 21 hospital baby deaths followed one or more serious incidents, between 2013 and 2021.

However, further study in the same nine-year period shows the toll to be higher. The worst year was 2018, when not only did at least 10 babies die, but three of them died at the same Dublin hospital over a five-month period.

In at least 18 of the 38 deaths, issues around foetal heartbeat monitoring (CTG) were raised either at inquest or in the High Court.

At least 18 of the inquests resulted in a verdict of medical misadventure.

As well as issues around heart monitoring, the Irish Examiner review shows that in at least seven of the 38 cases, maternity staff missed signs that a woman was in labour, leading to repeated recommendations around training.

In at least seven cases, mothers’ concerns were ignored.

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Source: Irish Examiner, 29 December 2023

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At least 216 children died in first high-severity US flu season in seven years, CDC says

At least 216 children have died of influenza in the US during the last flu season in what the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said was classified as the first high severity season overall and for all age groups since 2017-2018.

That number marks the highest pediatric death toll in 15 years; the previous high reported for a regular (non-pandemic) season was 236 pediatric deaths in the 2009-2010 season, according to the CDC. More recently, 207 paediatric deaths were reported during the 2023-2024 season.

The high number of paediatric fatalities reported for the past flu season comes as health authorities in New York said that 25 children in the state had succumbed to influenza-associated paediatric deaths – the highest recorded amount ever in New York.

“As we begin to analyze the data from the 2024-2025 influenza season, we see this flu season was a challenging flu season for all, yet particularly for children,” said New York state’s health commissioner, Dr James McDonald.

The health commissioner warned that “misinformation around vaccines has in recent years contributed to a rise in vaccine hesitancy and declining vaccination rates”. Of the 25 pediatric deaths attributed to flu, only one involved a vaccinated child and five were below six-month age minimum to receive the flu vaccine.

“We live in a challenging time, where honest objective information is sometimes blurred by misinformation – therefore, it remains the department’s goal to continue to provide as much education and information as possible about flu and other vaccines that remain our best protection against many viruses and preventable diseases,” McDonald said.

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Source: The Guardian, 8 May 2025

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At least 20,000 annual UK cancer deaths avoidable, says charity

At least 20,000 cancer deaths a year could be avoided in the UK with a national commitment to invest in research and innovation, and fix the NHS, says Cancer Research UK.

Progress is being made in finding new treatments for the condition that affects 50% of people at some point. But the charity says the UK lags behind comparable countries for survival.

It has launched a manifesto of priorities for this government and the next, ahead of a general election.

The document sets out what the charity says needs to change - and fast.

Whoever is running the country must commit to developing a 10-year cancer plan, spearheaded by a National Cancer Council accountable to the prime minister to bring government, charities, industry and scientific experts together, it says.

Key areas to focus on include:

  • More investment in research to close an estimated £1bn funding gap.
  • Greater disease prevention - banishing smoking to the history books, for example.
  • Earlier diagnosis, through screening.
  • Better tests and treatments, as well as cutting NHS waiting lists and investing in more staff.

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Source: BBC News, 28 November 2023

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At last: promise of £10bn payout for infected blood victims

Ministers are preparing to announce a compensation package of at least £10 billion for contaminated blood victims after a Sunday Times campaign for justice was backed across the political divide.

The announcement is expected to be made within hours of the public inquiry’s report into the scandal later this month and will establish a hierarchy of payments, with priority given to those with infectious diseases, including hepatitis C and HIV.

The money, promised to be “northwards of £10 billion”, is yet to be signed off by Rishi Sunak but has the support of the Treasury and the Cabinet Office. It is expected to be funded through government borrowing.

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Source: The Times, 5 May 2024

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At 16 she was diagnosed with cancer, at 18 she died because the treatment she needed was too far away

It was Christmas jumper day at school, and then 16-year-old Emily Clark walked down the stairs to ask her mum Donna Dunn if she had shrunk her jeans. Emily complained they were tight.

Little did the family know it at the time, but it was the start of two years of heartbreak that would expose them to a great weakness in the Welsh healthcare system and would end with Emily's death at just 18 years old.

Emily had a type of blood cancer that most patients survive yet she did not as she became too ill to travel to England for the treatment she needed. Consultant haematologist Dr Ceri Bygrave said that care for patients like her was compromised on a daily basis because of "the crumbling NHS infrastructure that exists in Wales that lags a long way behind other centres in England."

Emily did have treatment in Cardiff but more specialist treatment was needed. This was only available in Bristol but as a result of the complications she became too unwell to travel, yet remained well enough for the treatment.

Emily sadly died at the age of 18 in March 2016. Following her death, Donna and the rest of Emily's family have been so passionate about raising awareness of the symptoms of blood cancer, and also highlighting the need for improvement in treatments.

Blood Cancer UK has launched an action plan which recommends improvements inthe workforce, early diagnosis initiatives, reducing barriers to accessing care and increasing access to treatments.

Speaking specifically on the challenges faced in Wales, Dr Ceri Bygrave, who sat on the Blood Cancer UK Taskforce, said: “The haematology workforce are overstretched and understaffed, with critical staff shortages and increasingly complex treatments leaving people delivering NHS blood cancer care under major pressure. This is a particular challenge in Wales where by 2032, 74% of permanent haematology consultants will reach the age of 60 with a shortfall in trainees to replace them.

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Source: Wales Online, 5 September 2024

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Asymptomatic people will have to self-isolate after contact with COVID-19 cases

People will be asked to self-isolate for two weeks even if they are asymptomatic after coming into ‘high-risk’ contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 – a testing chief has told NHS executives.

This marks a change from the official guidance given to users of the government’s contact tracing app – on NHS’ COVID-19 website – which states: “If you do not have symptoms, you do not need to self-isolate at this time.”

John Newton, a leader of the UK’s testing programme, would be “directed towards those people at high risk” instead of the wider public. He added the government faces a “huge communications exercise” next week ahead of the launch of the test and trace programme.

Giving an update on the test and trace programme – which is due to launch on 1 June – Professor Newton said: “People who are deemed high risk contact of confirmed [COVID-19] cases will be told to self-isolate for 14 days, even if they have no symptoms at the time.

Professor Newton said: “The point is there will still be a requirement to contain the virus, but the impact in terms of containment will be directed towards those people at high risk so the rest of the population can enjoy more normal life."

He said the programme’s success would depend on the public’s response in terms of:

  • Presenting themselves for a test if they have symptoms;
  • Providing the information needed to identify high risk contacts; and
  • Those people identified as high risk contacts complying with advice to self-isolate.

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Source: HSJ, 21 May 2020

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Asymptomatic care workers unknowingly spread coronavirus

Large numbers of staff could have been unknowingly spreading coronavirus through care homes, according to the UK's largest charitable care home provider.

Data from MHA shows 42% of its staff members who recently tested positive were not displaying symptoms. Nearly 45% of residents who had a positive test were also asymptomatic.

MHA operates in England, Scotland and Wales and has fully tested staff and residents in 86 of its 90 homes so far.

A Department for Health and Social Care spokesperson said: "Our priority is to ensure care workers and those receiving care are protected, and the latest statistics show over 60% of care homes have had no outbreak at all.

"We've set out a comprehensive support package for residents and staff, including a £600m infection control fund, testing regardless of whether you have symptoms, and a named clinical lead to support every care home."

In total, 7% of MHA staff and 13% of residents received a positive test result. Routine testing is not yet under way.

MHA CEO Sam Monaghan told BBC Newsnight: "It is not difficult to imagine that a lot of people may not have ended up dying if we'd had earlier testing and we'd been therefore better able to manage infection control in our homes."

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Source: BBC News, 3 June 2020

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Asylum seekers with disabilities ‘abandoned’ in former Essex care home

The Home Office has been accused of abandoning 55 asylum seekers with a range of severe disabilities and life-limiting conditions at a former care home in an Essex seaside town.

The asylum seekers, who fled various conflict zones including Sudan and Afghanistan, are struggling with a range of health conditions they have suffered from since childhood or life-changing injuries suffered in war zones.

One told the Guardian: “Everybody is suffering in this place. It used to be a care home but now there is no care. We are free to come and go but to me, this place feels like an open prison. We have just been left here and abandoned.”

Those living in the former care home are struggling with health conditions including loss of limbs, blindness, deafness and mobility issues requiring a wheelchair – although not all have been able to access one. At least eight are paraplegic.

They were placed in the former care home, which opened in November, by Home Office officials. It is staffed like a standard Home Office asylum seeker hotel with security guards and reception staff but does not have trained care workers or nurses there as part of the contract.

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Source: The Guardian, 23 June 2023

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AstraZeneca vaccine linked with ‘spike’ in cases of rare disease that can paralyse victims

Scientists have drawn a link between the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and a “spike” in cases of a rare disease that can leave its victims paralysed.

Three separate studies reported an increase in Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) shortly after the roll out of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

GBS is a potentially deadly condition in which a person’s immune system attacks their nerves and gradually paralyses victims from the feet upwards. While most patients recover, it can be life-threatening or permanently debilitating.

Two of the studies looked at rates of GBS in England and said there was an increase in cases “attributable to” the AstraZeneca vaccine, or that there was a probable “causal link”.

The Telegraph has spoken to several people who developed GBS after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine, and have become severely disabled as a result.

On Friday, one of the victims spoke of his “anger” that he had the AstraZeneca jab without knowing that it posed such a risk.

Anthony Shingler said: “It feels like the side effects were either missed or ignored.”

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Source: The Telegraph, 8 December 2023

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AstraZeneca vaccine is safe, find clot reviews

There is no evidence the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine causes blood clots, say UK and EU regulators after a "thorough and careful review".

The MHRA and the EMA say people can have confidence in the vaccine's benefits and should get immunised, despite some countries pausing use.

But anyone with a headache lasting more than four days after vaccination should seek medical advice, as a precaution. The same advice applies if someone develops unusual bruising. That is because the regulators have received a very small number of reports of an extremely rare form of blood clot occurring in the brain.

It is this type of clot that triggered some European countries to pause rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

In the UK, five cases of cerebral sinus vein thrombosis (CSVT), among 11 million people who have received the vaccine, occurred in men aged between 19 and 59. One of these was fatal. The EMA has received an additional 13 reports of CSVT.

CSVT can occur naturally and no link to the vaccine has been established. The patients also had low blood platelet counts - cells involved with clotting. Covid infection can make clots more likely.

Dr June Raine, chief executive of the MHRA, said regulators would continue to closely monitor the situation and people should have the vaccine when it is their turn: "The public can have every confidence in the thoroughness of our review."

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Source: BBC News, 18 March 2021

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AstraZeneca faces legal challenge over Covid vaccine

AstraZeneca is facing legal action over its Covid vaccine, by a man who suffered severe brain injury after having the jab in April 2021.

Father-of-two Jamie Scott suffered a blood clot that left him with brain damage and unable to keep working.

The action, taken under the Consumer Protection Act, alleges the vaccine was "defective" as it was less safe than individuals were entitled to expect.

Studies suggest Covid vaccines have saved millions of lives.

In June 2022, the World Health Organization said the AstraZeneca vaccine was "safe and effective for individuals aged 18 and above".

A further claim from about 80 people who say they were injured by the AstraZeneca vaccine is also due to be launched later this year but Mr Scott's case is expected to be heard first.

AstraZeneca said: "Patient safety is our highest priority and regulatory authorities have clear and stringent standards to ensure the safe use of all medicines, including vaccines.

"Our sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost loved ones or reported health problems.

"From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, Vaxzevria [the vaccine against Covid] has continuously been shown to have an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects."

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Source: BBC News, 9 November 2023

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Asthma: Action needed on needless deaths, says charity

Urgent government action is needed to stop preventable asthma deaths, a leading charity has said.

More than 12,000 people in the UK have died from asthma attacks since 2014, according to Asthma and Lung UK.

It said the figures meant "shockingly little" had changed since a major report a decade ago which found two thirds of asthma deaths could have been avoided with better care.

People with asthma should get an annual condition review, a written action plan and inhaler technique checks.

But the charity said people with asthma were being "failed", with seven out of 10 not receiving basic care, partly because healthcare workers were over-stretched.

Asthma and Lung UK said 31% of asthmatics were "disengaged" with managing their condition, putting them at higher risk, according to its research.

Ministers in England and Wales said they were trying to improve services.

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Source: BBC News, 24 April 2024

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Asthma research disadvantages women by disregarding sex hormones

Women with asthma are twice as likely to die from an asthma attack compared with men in the UK, new figures show as health experts called for urgent research into the condition’s sex-related differences.

They are more likely to have the condition, more likely to need hospital treatment for it and more likely to die from an attack, Asthma + Lung UK said. Over the past five years women have accounted for more than two-thirds of asthma deaths in the UK.

The charity said the current “one size fits all” approach to asthma treatment is “not working” because it does not take into account the impact that female sex hormones during puberty, periods, pregnancy and menopause can have on asthma symptoms and attacks. More must be done to tackle the “stark health inequality”, it added.

Between 2014-15 and 2019-20 more than 5,100 women in the UK died from an asthma attack compared with fewer than 2,300 men. Meanwhile, emergency hospital admissions in England show that, among those aged 20 to 49, women were 2.5 times more likely to be admitted to hospital for asthma treatment compared with men.

Asthma + Lung UK said many people were unaware that fluctuations in female sex hormones can cause asthma symptoms to flare up or even trigger life-threatening attacks. It is calling for more research to examine the sex-related differences in asthma.

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Source: The Guardian, 27 April 2022

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Asthma figures show ‘shocking’ health inequalities in England, charity says

People from minority ethnic backgrounds in the most deprived areas of England are up to three times more likely to need emergency treatment for asthma than their white counterparts, analysis has found.

Analysis of NHS statistics conducted by the charity Asthma and Lung UK found that Asian people with asthma from the most deprived quintile in England are almost three times more likely to have an emergency admission to hospital than their white counterparts. Black people with asthma in the most deprived quintile are more than twice as likely than their white counterparts to be admitted to hospital.

People with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) aged between 45 and 54 in the most deprived quintile are nine times more likely to be admitted as an emergency than those in the least deprived quintile, according to the analysis.

Sarah Sleet, the charity’s chief executive, said the figures highlighted “shocking health inequalities in our society”.

Sleet said: “The UK has the worst death rate in Europe for lung conditions and they are more closely linked to inequality than any other major health condition. The fact that people from the most deprived communities and from ethnic minority backgrounds are much more likely to reach crisis point is yet another wake-up call.

“Social disadvantages – including poor housing, mould, damp and air pollution – can both cause chronic lung conditions and make them worse. And it’s the poorest in society and those in ethnic minority communities who are more likely to be living in low-quality housing and in areas with high levels of air pollution.”

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Source: The Guardian, 12 May 2025

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Asthma attacks in more than 1m people linked to UK cost of living rationing

More than a million people in the UK have experienced life-threatening asthma attacks after cutting back on medicine, heating or food amid the soaring cost of living crisis, a survey suggests.

One in five (20%) people living with asthma in the UK – of which there are 5.4 million – have had an attack as a result of changes they have been forced to make due to rising energy, food and household bills, according to the research by Asthma + Lung UK. Fuel poverty campaigners described the figures as “distressing”.

Almost half of the 3,600 people with lung conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and bronchiectasis surveyed by the charity said their health had worsened since the crisis began.

Asthma + Lung UK warned there could be a “tidal wave” of hospital admissions in the next few months as cold weather, an abundance of viruses and people cutting back on medicines, heating, food and electricity put them at increased risk.

Sarah Woolnough, the charity’s chief executive, said: “Untenable cost of living hikes are forcing people with lung conditions to make impossible choices about their health.

“Warm homes, regular medicine and a healthy diet are all important pillars to good lung condition management – but they all come at a cost. We are hearing from people already reporting a sharp decline in their lung health, including many having life-threatening asthma attacks.

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Source: The Guardian, 28 September 2022

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Assisted dying law change backed by 'citizens' jury'

The first “citizens’ jury” on assisted dying in England has backed a change in the law to allow people who are terminally ill to end their life.

A jury of 28 people concluded it should be an option for those judged to have capacity to make their own decisions.

While it has no legal powers, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, which set up the jury, said it represented a crucial new piece of evidence in the debate as it allowed the public to consider the issues more deeply than they could in surveys.

However, campaigners questioned the validity of the exercise, as a majority of those recruited were already in favour of changing the law.

Dr Gordon Macdonald, of the Care Not Killing campaign group, said: "A jury in a court of law must be rigorously impartial with no strong views about the case they are judging.

"So, what could have been a serious contribution to this important debate seemingly fails the impartiality test."

However, Nuffield Council on Bioethics director Danielle Hamm said that in such a “highly complex, sensitive and ethically charged” debate as assisted dying, a citizens' jury allowed more in-depth consideration to be given to the issue, as well as exploring the reasons for people forming their views.

The council said it had set up the jury because of the growing interest in the issue.

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Source: BBC News, 13 September 2024

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Assisted dying inquiry hears people in UK face ‘unbearable suffering’

People dying in the UK face “uncontrollable” pain and “unbearable suffering”, which palliative care alone cannot fix, according to the first evidence to a major new parliamentary inquiry asking if assisted dying should finally be legalised.

In a shocking submission in favour of a law change, Molly Meacher told the Commons health and social care committee that the reality of end of life could include vomiting faeces, endless nausea and decaying tumours that smelled so bad they drove people out of hospital wards.

People “are existing, they’re not living”, the crossbench peer and chair of the charity Dignity in Dying told the committee inquiry, which comes eight years after the House of Commons last considered changing legislation in 2015.

Arguing strongly against any law change, Ilora Finlay, a crossbench peer and palliative care physician warned of the risk of “elder abuse” being worsened by a law change and said wider availability of palliative care, which remains patchy in the UK, must instead be a priority.

Charles Falconer, a Labour peer and former Lord Chancellor, described the current situation, where dying people sometimes withdraw their own treatment rather than taking drugs to end their life, as “a mess”. He proposed that assisted dying should be available only to terminally ill people and not those facing “unbearable suffering”, as others have suggested. A diagnosis would be needed from two doctors plus approval from high court judge.

“The bills that have been proposed [previously but defeated] say the person who decides to have an assisted death must have the capacity to make that decision,” he said.

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Source: The Guardian, 28 March 2023

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Assisted dying bill to include protection for NHS staff not wishing to take part

NHS staff including doctors, nurses and pharmacists who do not wish to take part in assisted dying will have specific protection against discrimination under a new amendment from the bill’s sponsor Kim Leadbeater, backed by ministers.

Leadbeater, who is hoping to shore up support for the bill before a crucial Commons vote next week, will add the additional protections for any staff involved in the proposed process, including ancillary staff, who will not have to give any reason for their refusal.

The private member’s bill, which faces its next Commons stage next Friday (16 May), currently says doctors and health professionals may refuse to take part.

But the Guardian understands this will be extended to any person who may possibly be involved in the process and will be amended to say “no person is under any duty to participate in the provision of assistance”.

There will also be an amendment to the current Employment Rights Act that will specifically ban discrimination, dismissal or disciplinary action if a person chooses not to participate.

“Choice is at the heart of the bill,” Leadbeater said. “Assisted dying is not for everyone and nor should it be. But for those who do make that choice, the bill that MPs will be debating again in less that two weeks, contains even more protections and is more effective and workable than it was before.”

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Source: The Guardian, 5 May 2025

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Assaults, neglect and a Taser revealed in ‘deeply shocking’ BBC care home investigation

A company which ran children's homes where residents were systemically abused also failed to prevent adults being harmed, BBC News has learned.

An investigation found 99 cases of abuse at a Doncaster home for vulnerable adults in 2010. One worker even ordered a Taser to use there.

The care home company - Hesley - said improvements were made at the time. But children at other Hesley homes were later reported to have been punched, kicked and fed chillies.

The BBC reported in January how more than 100 reports of appalling abuse and neglect - dating from 2018 to 2021 - were uncovered at sites run by the Hesley Group. They included children being locked outside in freezing temperatures while naked, and having vinegar poured on wounds.

Now the BBC has obtained confidential reports from within Hesley and the local authority which reveal wider safeguarding failings spanning more than a decade at both children's homes and placements for vulnerable young adults.

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Source: BBC News, 14 April 2023

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Asian women in England almost twice as likely to suffer severe childbirth tears

Asian women in England are almost twice as likely to suffer the most severe birth injuries during labour, with many healthcare professionals unaware of this greater risk, analysis has found.

Third- and fourth-degree tears, also known as obstetric anal sphincter injury (OASI), are the most severe forms of vaginal tearing during childbirth.

Up to 90% of women experience some tearing during labour, with most of these injuries healing quickly and having a relatively minor impact. A third-degree tear extends into the muscle that controls the anus and a fourth-degree tear extends further into the lining of the anus.

According to Guardian analysis of NHS figures obtained via a freedom of information request, Asian women suffered third- and fourth-degree tears at a rate of 2,831 tears per 100,000 deliveries during 2023-24. This compares with rates of 1,473 per 100,000 for white women and 1,496 per 100,000 for black women.

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Source: Guardian, 26 December 2025

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ASA cracks down on online pharmacies advertising weight loss injections

Online pharmacies are no longer allowed to run adverts for weight loss injections, the advertising watchdog has ruled, as part of a crackdown on what has been described as a “wild west” culture of online selling.

In the UK, advertising prescription-only medications (POMs) – which includes all weight loss jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro – to the public is illegal. However, a Guardian investigation previously found some online pharmacies either breaking these rules outright, or exploiting grey areas to peddle the medications to the public.

Now the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has released nine new rulings that, it says, will set clear precedents for advertisers.

The ASA said the new rulings meant that while pharmacies could continue to mention weight loss injections on their websites, provided they were not shown on homepages or landing pages from other links, adverts were banned from using the phrases “weight loss injections” and “weight loss pen”, and the treatments must instead be marketed as part of a wider service, including a consultation and prescription.

Experts say the ban on the advertising of POMs protects the public by preventing people from being exposed to undue commercial pressure, ensuring safe prescribing, and avoiding over-medicalisation of everyday concerns.

“Part of our overall strategy is protecting vulnerable people from harm, and nothing’s so harmful as powerful prescription-only medicines,” said Nicky Morgan, chair of the ASA.

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Source: The Guardian, 9 July 2025

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ASA bans Brazilian liquid butt lift ads from six UK cosmetic treatment providers

The Advertising Standards Authority has reprimanded six cosmetic treatment providers for pressuring customers, exploiting women’s insecurities or trivialising medical risks after an investigation into adverts for liquid Brazilian butt lifts (BBLs).

The cosmetic procedure, which involves injecting fillers into the buttocks to enhance their shape and size, is unregulated in the UK and can carry significant health risks, not least from potentially life-threatening infections.

Hundreds of women have contracted infections after paying for liquid BBLs in the UK, with many requiring hospital treatment for sepsis or corrective surgery to repair tissue damage.

The ASA took action against the UK companies after its artificial intelligence-driven monitoring system flagged numerous Facebook and Instagram adverts for liquid BBLs and similar procedures.

Adverts from Beautyjenics, Bomb Doll Aesthetics, CCSkinLondonDubai, EME Aesthetics & Beauty Academy, Rejuvenate Academy, trading as Rejuvenate Clinics, and NKD Medical, trading as Dr Ducu, were found to have breached the code and the companies were told the ads must not appear again.

“Choosing to undergo a cosmetic procedure is a serious decision, so ads that trivialise this, exploit insecurities, or pressure consumers can cause real harm. We’re particularly concerned about these types of ads for liquid BBLs, given the procedure is currently unregulated and is known to be high risk,” an ASA spokesperson said.

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Source: The Guardian, 16 April 2025

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As RSV cases tick up, CDC warns that a key drug to keep babies safe is in short supply

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention alerted doctors nationwide Monday about a limited availability of certain doses of a newly approved antibody drug given to infants to prevent RSV infection.

Cases of RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, have started to rise as cold and flu season begins.

"RSV season is here," said Dr. Buddy Creech, a pediatric infectious disease doctor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. "We are seeing a substantial increase in the amount of RSV such that in many areas, it has become the most commonly identified respiratory virus causing disease in children.

"This is one of the reasons why there's probably a lot of scrambling going on," he said, "to identify those babies at highest risk and to try to prioritize them, since it's such a limited resource right now."

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Source: NBC News, 23 October 2023

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As my daughter died of ME, the state met in secret to blame me

In the final weeks of Maeve Boothby O’Neill’s life, her mother tried frantically to get her the palliative care that might make her death more comfortable. Maeve was in pain, too weak to chew, and dying of malnutrition from severe myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).

Sarah Boothby had no idea that at the same time as she begged for help for her daughter, the people she was turning to were holding secret safeguarding meetings, discussing the possibility that Maeve’s condition was in fact caused or fabricated by her — and proposing Maeve’s forcible removal from her care.

Maeve was 27 when she died in October 2021 in the Exeter flat she shared with Boothby. She had discharged herself from hospital because, with no cure or viable treatment, she wanted to die at home.

Boothby and Maeve’s father, the Times journalist Sean O’Neill, knew from bitter experience that there was scant medical support available for ME. But they could not understand why it was so hard to get their daughter the help she needed for a more bearable death.

It was only when council documents were disclosed before Maeve’s inquest last year that they finally got answers.

Safeguarding records for the final year of Maeve’s life show social workers, nurses and a mental health assessor, instead of focusing on managing Maeve’s ME, were investigating concerns about Boothby. That year there were seven safeguarding meetings that neither Maeve, nor her parents, were invited to.

Boothby contacted The Sunday Times after an investigation last month found that hundreds of parents, mostly mothers, are being falsely accused of fabricating or inducing their child’s illness, and facing allegations of abuse when they seek medical care for them.

The ME Association says parents of children with ME or long Covid are “a sitting duck” for allegations of “fabricated or induced illness” (FII, of which FDIA is the most extreme example) because the condition is so poorly understood and it is challenging to get a diagnosis.

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Source: The Times, 10 August 2025

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As a physio, Bev was sure she had a DVT - but it was only diagnosed after she nearly died

One of the most serious complications of a DVT is when a part of the clot breaks off and travels through the bloodstream to the lungs, leading to a blockage called a pulmonary embolism — this can cause chest pain, breathing difficulties, a faster heartbeat, coughing up blood, and can be life-threatening if not treated quickly.

Worryingly, research suggests 40 per cent of patients who die from a pulmonary embolism complained of nagging symptoms for weeks before their death.

For every pulmonary embolism diagnosed in time, there are at least another two where the diagnosis was missed and resulted in sudden death, according to the charity Thrombosis UK.

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Source: Daily Mail, 25 September 2023

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