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Found 496 results
  1. News Article
    Medical records contain a plethora of information, from a patient’s diagnoses and treatments to marital status to drinking and exercise habits. They also note whether a patient has followed medical advice. A health provider may add a line stating that the patient is “noncompliant” or “non-adherent,” signalling that the patient has been uncooperative and may exhibit problematic behaviours. Two large new studies in the US found that such terms, while not commonly used, are much more likely to appear in the medical records of Black patients than in those of other races. The first study, published in Health Affairs, found that Black patients were two and a half times as likely as white patients to have at least one negative descriptive term used in their electronic health record. About 8% of all patients had one or more derogatory terms in their charts, the study found. The most common negative descriptive terms used in the records were “refused,” “not adherent,” “not compliant” and “agitated.” The second study, published in JAMA Network Open, analysed the electronic health records of nearly 30,000 patients at a large urban academic medical centre between January and December 2018. The study looked for what researchers called “stigmatising language,” comparing the negative terms used to describe patients of different racial and ethnic backgrounds as well as those with three chronic diseases: diabetes, substance use disorders and chronic pain. Overall, 2.5% of the notes contained terms like “nonadherence,” “noncompliance,” “failed” or “failure,” “refuses” or “refused,” and, on occasion, “combative” or “argumentative.” But while 2.6% of medical notes on white patients contained such terms, they were present in 3.15% of notes about Black patients. Looking at some 8,700 notes about patients with diabetes, 6,100 notes about patients with substance use disorder and 5,100 notes about those with chronic pain, the researchers found that patients with diabetes — most of whom had type 2 diabetes, which is often associated with excess weight and called a “lifestyle” disease — were the most likely to be described in negative ways. Nearly 7% of patients with diabetes were said to be noncompliant with a treatment regimen, or to have “uncontrolled” disease, or to have “failed.” The labels have consequences, warns Dr. Schillinger, who directs the Center for Vulnerable Populations at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. “Patients whose physicians tend to judge, blame or vilify them are much less likely to have trust in their doctors, and in the medical system overall,” Dr. Schillinger said. “Having health care providers who are trustworthy — who earn their patients’ trust by not judging them unfairly — is critical to ensuring optimal health and eliminating health disparities.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The New York Times, 20 February 2022
  2. News Article
    Conduct guidelines for UK doctors are being updated to spell out what constitutes workplace sexual harassment, amid concerns abuse is going unchallenged. The General Medical Council, which regulates doctors to ensure they are safe and fit to care for patients, says it is adopting a zero-tolerance policy. The new advice explains it is not just physical acts that can be a breach. Verbal and written comments or sharing images with a colleague count too. The new guidance will not come into effect until the end of January, after a five-month familiarisation period for staff. And some say there is still a long way to go. Dr Chelcie Jewitt, an emergency-medicine doctor who is part of the Surviving in Scrubs campaign group, which aims to raise awareness of sexism, harassment and sexual assault in the healthcare workforce, said: "We have spoken with the GMC about the guidelines and we do think that they are a step in the right direction - but there is still a long way to go on this journey to eradicating the culture of sexual misconduct within healthcare. "The GMC has the potential to make a real difference and we need to see them supporting victims when they report perpetrators. "We need their reporting processes to be transparent and clearly explained to victims. "We need cases to be thoroughly investigated rather than dismissed. "And we need appropriate, proportionate sanctioning of perpetrators." Read full story Source: BBC News, 22 August 2023 Read a blog Dr Chelcie Jewitt wrote for the hub: Calling out the sexist and misogynist culture within healthcare
  3. News Article
    The exodus of healthcare workers from Nigeria, Ghana and Zimbabwe continues, despite the WHO red list and a range of laws to keep them at home. It took nearly three hours of queueing in Ikorodu general hospital in Lagos state, Nigeria, before Hadijat Hassan, a retired civil servant, could see a nurse. The 66-year-old has attended the clinic for health checks since being diagnosed with diabetes nearly 10 years ago. But since May, she says, the delays, often while suffering from excruciating pain in her legs, are worse than ever. “You can get there [the hospital] and meet about 50 people waiting to be attended to,” Hassan says. “They said all of their nurses and doctors have been leaving for abroad. Just a few are left.” In Nigeria, there is one doctor for every 5,000 patients, whereas the average in developed countries is one doctor for about every 254 people. A hospital official said the Ikorodu management get resignation notices from nurses and doctors almost every month. “Many leave for the US, Canada, UK and, most recently, Australia,” says the official, who asked to remain anonymous. The National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives has reported there is now a ratio of one nurse to 1,160 patients. Its president, Michael Nnachi, said that more than 75,000 nurses had left Nigeria since 2017. “If you look at the conditions of service of health workers generally, you’ll see the difficult challenges complicated by the current economic realities,” he said, adding that rising inflation has compounded the problems. The World Health Organization predicts a worldwide shortage of 10 million health and care workers by 2030 – mostly in low-income countries, where people are leaving for opportunities abroad. This is despite the WHO’s introduction of a safeguard list to stop rich countries poaching from poorer countries with staff shortages. The “red list”, launched in 2020 with plans to update it every three years, includes Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe and 34 other African countries. Yet the UK’s nursing regulator, the Nursing and Midwifery Council, says more than 7,000 Nigerian nurses relocated to the UK between 2021 and 2022. Data from the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association shows that nearly 4,000 nurses left the country in 2022. In Zimbabwe, more than 4,000 health workers, including 2,600 nurses, left in 2021 and 2022, the government said. The WHO has no powers to prohibit recruitment of doctors from countries on the list, but recommends “government-to-government health worker migration agreements be informed by health labour market analysis and the adoption of measures to ensure adequate supply of health workers in the source countries”. Read the full article here
  4. News Article
    As junior doctors begin a four-day strike today with a two-day strike by consultants a fortnight later, Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: "Trust leaders are very worried about six more days of severe disruption across the NHS this month. "We could be close to a tipping point. Trusts and staff are pulling out all the stops to reduce waiting times for patients but with no end to strikes in sight the sheer volume of planned treatment being put back due to industrial action will make it almost impossible for trusts to cut waiting lists as much as the government wants. "Waiting lists are now at a record high of 7.57 million, the pressure on urgent and emergency care services is relentless and an already stretched NHS is gearing up for another high-demand winter as pressure on tight budgets mounts. "A string of strikes – which have led to more than 835,000 routine treatments and appointments being put back since December – is estimated to have cost the NHS around £1bn already including lost income and hiring expensive staff cover. "The number of rescheduled appointments could be close to 1 million after this month's strikes and consultants have called another two-day strike in September. There will be a long-lasting effect on patients who have had treatment delayed and on already low staff morale. "Concerns are mounting too over how patient safety will be maintained during August's strikes as many NHS services will be even more stretched as many staff are on much-needed summer holidays and cover is harder to secure. "It's vital that the government and unions find a breakthrough urgently. Trust leaders understand the strength of feeling among striking staff and why they're taking action. Everyone in the NHS wants to concentrate on treating more patients more quickly rather than spend days making plans to cope with strikes. "People can still rely on the NHS during strikes, calling 999 in an emergency. For less urgent cases people should use 111 online for help and advice."
  5. News Article
    A trust breached its own internal illness policy when managers sacked a doctor who had PTSD and had been drunk at work, an employment tribunal has ruled. Judges criticised the move as a “complete failure” by East and North Hertfordshire Trust when Vladimir Filipovich was dismissed in July 2019. Dr Filipovich was summoned to a hearing following allegations he had been drunk at work, did not disclose a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder to his employer, and failed to take a recommended prescription of Citalopram. In a decision published this month, the tribunal sharply criticised how the trust’s investigator handled the Citalopram claim, concluding he “did nothing to investigate the matter whatsoever”, and found ENHT had “appeared to simply take legal advice” on how to dismiss Dr Filipovich. The tribunal also concluded ENHT “stopped following” its own illness policy, which aimed to get practitioners to return to work, and “abandoned” its requirement to obtain the latest occupational advice. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 July 2023
  6. News Article
    A trust has been accused of presiding over the deterioration of a key service amid communication problems between senior leaders and a ‘worrying series of resignations’ which has left the department with ‘no doctors’. The British Association of Dermatologists wrote to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust on 13 July to request an urgent meeting with the provider’s management to discuss the matter. The letter, seen by HSJ, outlines fundamental patient safety and staffing concerns about the trust’s dermatology service and accuses the trust of putting “continued communication barriers” between clinicians and management. The letter, signed by BAD president Mabs Chowdhury, says there are now “no doctors in the department” after two consultants and a locum consultant resigned “due to apparent unhappiness with the running of services [and in] a continuation of a worrying series of resignations”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 19 July 2023
  7. News Article
    Doctors have warned the decision to remove face mask guidance in healthcare settings is "playing Russian roulette" with staff and patients' welfare. It was withdrawn in May in hospitals, dentists and GP surgeries having been in place since June 2020. Doctors from the British Medical Association (BMA) Scotland condemned the decision at the time. Now, the Scottish Healthcare Workers Coalition has written to ministers to highlight the "very serious flaws" in changing the guidance. The group is made up of Scottish healthcare workers who worked throughout the pandemic and are now living with long Covid or another chronic post-viral illness or disability. In the letter, the coalition states the updated guidance is not based on the science of coronavirus transmission and "represents a flawed and dangerous decision which will result in more infection in health and social care settings". Dr Shaun Peter Qureshi, of the Scottish Healthcare Workers Coalition, said: "At-risk patients have entirely legitimate concerns that they may endanger their health by visiting their GP or hospital. "With at least 4% of NHS staff now living with chronic post-Covid complications, the Scottish government must follow the evidence and improve protections from the airborne spread (of the virus) in healthcare settings, not reduce them." Read full story Source: BBC News, 17 July 2023
  8. News Article
    Acute trust leaders have expressed ‘extreme concern’ over their ability to maintain safe services in the upcoming junior doctor and consultant strikes. Leaders at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust are “extremely concerned about the impact on patients… as well as on the health and wellbeing of staff”, according to its latest CEO report to the board, Junior doctors are striking between 7am on Thursday 13 July and 7am on Tuesday 18 July. The report warned this would result in “complete withdrawal of labour, with no exemptions to cover emergency and critical services”. The report said: “Junior doctors may only be recalled to work in the event of a mass casualty incident… Although other staff can cover for junior doctors they are becoming exhausted and increasingly reluctant to do so. “We are therefore extremely concerned about our ability to maintain safe services.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 12 July 2023
  9. News Article
    NHS England has reduced its elective activity target for the service because of the impact of junior doctors’ strike, and acknowledged the service may not hit the prime minister’s pledge to reduce waiting lists before the next general election if the industrial action continues. NHSE has agreed a deal with ministers which will see the “value based” elective activity target set for the service reduced for 2023-24 from 107 per cent of pre-pandemic levels to 105 per cent (See explainer box on value-based targets below). Trust finance bosses were briefed by NHSE chief finance officer Julian Kelly this morning (Wednesday 12 July) on the eve of junior doctors’ longest strike action to date. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 12 July 2023
  10. News Article
    A struggling trust has been warned by regulators that it could see its junior doctors removed, after concerns about clinical supervision and safety at a hospital whose A&E closes at night. NHS England inspectors who visited Cheltenham General Hospital found emergency patients – including potential surgical patients – became the responsibility of the overnight medical team when its accident and emergency closed in the evening. One night, 26 patients had been handed across, the inspectors were told, and some patients were felt to be inappropriate for medical referral. A surgical registrar could be telephoned at Gloucester Royal Hospital about surgical patients. They were told that although there were no incidents of serious harm, there had been many “near misses” and juniors felt “unsafe and unsupported in terms of consultant clinical supervision, overall clinical/nursing staffing support or logistically in managing patients in this setting or arranging transfers”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 7 July 2023
  11. News Article
    Most frontline medics believe ministers are seeking to “destroy the NHS” because they have starved it of cash and mistreated its staff, the leader of Britain’s doctors has said. Prof Philip Banfield also warned that the health service, which on Wednesday will mark the 75th anniversary of its creation, is so fragile that it may not survive until its 80th. Banfield, the British Medical Association’s chair of council, mounted an unusually strong attack on the government’s handling of the NHS in an interview with the Guardian. “This government has to demonstrate that it is not setting out to destroy the NHS, which it is failing to do at this point in time,” he said. “It is a very common comment that I hear, from both doctors and patients, that this government is consciously running the NHS down. [And] if you run it down far enough, it’s going to lead to destruction. “You’ll struggle to find someone [among doctors] on the frontline who thinks otherwise, because that’s what it feels like.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 4 July 2023
  12. News Article
    The head of NHS England has warned that July's planned strikes in the health service could be the worst yet for patients. Amanda Pritchard said industrial action across the NHS had already caused "significant" disruption - and that patients were paying the price. This month's consultant strike will bring a "different level of challenge" than previous strikes, she said. Junior doctors and consultants will strike for a combined seven days. Ms Pritchard told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that the work of consultants - who are striking for the first time in a decade - cannot be covered "in the same way" as junior doctors. "The hard truth is that it is patients that are paying the price for the fact that all sides have not yet managed to reach a resolution," she said. Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 July 2023
  13. News Article
    Thousands more doctors and nurses will be trained in England every year as part of a government push to plug the huge workforce gaps that plague almost all NHS services. The number of places in medical schools will rise from 7,500 to 10,000 by 2028 and could reach 15,000 by 2031 as a result of the NHS’s first long-term workforce plan. There will also be a big expansion in training places for those who want to become nurses, with the number rising by a third to 40,000 by 2028 – matching the number of nurses the health service currently lacks. Amanda Pritchard, the chief executive of NHS England, hailed the long-awaited plan as “a once in a generation opportunity to put staffing on a sustainable footing for years to come”. Medical groups, health experts and organisations representing NHS staff welcomed the plan as ambitious but overdue. Richard Murray, chief executive of the King’s Fund thinktank, said it could be a “landmark moment” for the health service by providing it with the staff it needs to provide proper care. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 29 June 2023
  14. News Article
    Nurses strikes are set to end but the disruption for NHS patients will continue as senior doctors are the latest to vote to walk out. The Royal College of Nursing failed to reach the threshold needed to hold further action, with just 43% of the required 50% of members returning a ballot to hold fresh walkouts. But more than 24,000 members of the British Medical Association (BMA) backed industrial action by 86% on a turnout of 71%, well above the legal threshold of 50%, with senior doctors set to strike on 20 and 21 July. It comes after the union last week announced a five-day strike by junior doctors will be held from 13 July. NHS leaders have said consecutive walkouts from junior doctors and now consultants presents a “huge risk” for the health service. Read full story Source: The Independent, 27 June 2023
  15. News Article
    The NHS is set to undergo the "largest expansion in training and workforce" in its history, Rishi Sunak has said. Speaking to the BBC, the prime minister said the plans would reduce "reliance on foreign-trained healthcare professionals". It comes at a time of record-high waiting lists in the NHS and junior doctors set to stage a five-day strike next month. The full plans are expected to be published next week. Pressed about the length of time it would take to see the results of the changes, Mr Sunak accepted it could take "five, ten, fifteen years for these things to come through", but that did not mean it was not the right thing to do. Read full story Source: BBC News, 25 June 2023
  16. News Article
    Junior doctors will take part in what is “thought to be the longest single period of industrial action in the history of the health service” for five days next month. The British Medical Association junior doctor committee announced this morning there would be a walkout from 7am on Thursday 13 July and 7am on Tuesday 18 July in its ongoing pay dispute with government. It comes amid growing expectation that a Royal College of Nursing ballot on further strike action over the Agenda for Change pay award, which ends this week, is likely to fail to secure a mandate. But junior doctors’ strikes are continuing to hit elective recovery, and strain relationships, with workload on other groups increased as they are asked to provide cover. Junior doctors have allowed no “derogations” (exemptions) from the action, as they say other staff groups can cover emergency care, and one move to call them in to a busy hospital in the south west, in an earlier round, was abandoned. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 23 June 2023
  17. News Article
    Doctors suffering from burnout are far more likely to be involved in incidents where patients’ safety is compromised, a global study has found. Burned-out medics are also much more likely to consider quitting, regret choosing medicine as their career, be dissatisfied with their job and receive low satisfaction ratings from patients. The findings, published in the BMJ, have raised fresh concern over the welfare and pressures on doctors in the NHS, given the extensive evidence that many are experiencing stress and exhaustion due to overwork. A joint team of British and Greek researchers analysed 170 previous observational studies of the links between burnout among doctors, their career engagement and quality of patient care. Those papers were based on the views and experience of 239,246 doctors in countries including the US, UK and others in Africa, Asia and elsewhere globally. They found that burned-out medics were twice as likely as their peers to have been involved in patient safety incidents, to show low levels of professionalism and to have been rated poorly by patients for the quality of the care they have provided. Doctors aged 20 to 30 and those working in A&E or intensive care were most likely to have burnout. It was defined as comprising emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation – a “negative, callous” detachment from their job – and a sense of reduced personal accomplishment. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 14 September 2022
  18. News Article
    Trying to strike a balance between free speech and public health, California’s Legislature on Monday approved a bill that would allow regulators to punish doctors for spreading false information about Covid-19 vaccinations and treatments. The legislation, if signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, would make the state the first to try to legislate a remedy to a problem that the American Medical Association, among other medical groups and experts, says has worsened the impact of the pandemic, resulting in thousands of unnecessary hospitalisations and deaths. The law would designate spreading false or misleading medical information to patients as “unprofessional conduct,” subject to punishment by the agency that licenses doctors, the Medical Board of California. That could include suspending or revoking a doctor’s license to practice medicine in the state. While the legislation has raised concerns over freedom of speech, the bill’s sponsors said the extensive harm caused by false information required holding incompetent or ill-intentioned doctors accountable. “In order for a patient to give informed consent, they have to be well informed,” said State Senator Richard Pan, a Democrat from Sacramento and a co-author of the bill. A paediatrician himself and a prominent proponent of stronger vaccination requirements, he said the law was intended to address “the most egregious cases” of deliberately misleading patients. Read full story (paywalled) Source: New York Times, 29 August 2022
  19. News Article
    A proposed pay settlement is making doctors consider leaving the health service, the British Medical Association (BMA) in Northern Ireland has said. In a BMA survey of more than 1,000 doctors, 85% of respondents said the proposed uplift of 4.5% was too low. The representative body said discontent was very high among junior doctors with 93% of them saying it was too low. "When asked about their intentions as to the likelihood of them continuing to work in Northern Ireland, junior doctors said they were now more likely to leave because of the low pay award," said the BMA. Read full story Source: BBC News (31 August 2022)
  20. News Article
    Liz Truss has pledged to halt the exodus of doctors from the NHS to tackle the Covid backlog and surging waiting lists. The frontrunner in the Conservative leadership race is planning to unveil a series of radical reforms that will stop doctors from retiring early and entice retirees to return. One in 10 consultants and GPs is expected to retire in the next 18 months because of pension rules that mean they are "paying to work". A source close to her said she would deal with it by “cutting red tape and dealing with issues in the pension and tax system that currently act as barriers for people wanting to return”. It comes amid concerns that the NHS backlog after lockdown is causing more than 1,000 excess deaths per week - more than the figure now killed each week by coronavirus. A source close to Liz Truss also said: “The Covid pandemic put unprecedented strain on our NHS, and the resulting backlog is seeing people struggling to get appointments and treatments. We must act to tackle it, and we will. We will make it easier for doctors and nurses who have recently left or are planning to leave the NHS but want to return or stay to do so.” Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Telegraph (20 August 2022)
  21. News Article
    Nearly 700 doctors are likely to leave the Welsh NHS as a result of a recent 4.5% pay rise, the British Medical Association has warned. The warning follows a survey by BMA Cymru, in which more than half of the 1,397 respondents said they could leave and most felt morale had dropped. The below-inflation pay rise will apply to consultants, junior doctors and GPs. The Welsh government said it accepted the NHS pay review body's advice and was limited on how far it could go. Dr Iona Collins, chairwoman of the BMA's Welsh Council, said the findings resonated with what she was hearing from colleagues across Wales. "Doctors' take-home pay has reduced over several years, making the NHS an increasingly unattractive employer," said Dr Collins. Read full story Source: BBC News (23 August 2022)
  22. News Article
    Doctors and nurses often “weight-shame” people who are overweight or obese, leaving them feeling anxious, depressed and wrongly blaming themselves for their condition, research has found. Such behaviour, although usually the result of “unconscious weight bias”, leads to people not attending medical appointments, feeling humiliated and being more likely to put on weight. Dr Anastasia Kalea and colleagues at University College London analysed 25 previous studies about “weight stigma”, undertaken in different countries, involving 3,554 health professionals. They found “extensive evidence [of] strong weight bias” among a wide range of health staff, including doctors, nurses, dieticians, psychologists and even obesity specialists. Their analysis found that a number of health professionals “believe their patients are lazy, lack self-control, overindulge, are hostile, dishonest, have poor hygiene and do not follow guidance”, said Kalea, an associate professor in UCL’s division of medicine. She added: “Sadly, healthcare, including general practice, is one of the most common settings for weight stigmatisation and we know this acts as a barrier to the services and treatments that can help people manage weight. “An example is a GP that will unconsciously show that they do not believe that the patient complies with their eat less/exercise more regime they were asked to follow as they are not losing weight." “The result is that patients are not coming back or they delay their follow-up appointments, they avoid healthcare prevention services or cancel appointments due to concerns of being stigmatised due to their weight.” Read full story Source: The Guardian, 10 August 2022
  23. News Article
    The medical body at Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust has written to the trust’s chair saying that it is unable to provide safe care and expressing a lack of confidence in the board. The letter, which has been seen by HSJ, is signed by 140 of doctors at the mental health provider. It claims the trust’s “clinical services are unable to provide good basic care and are unsafe”. Significant criticism is reserved for the trust’s senior management, with the letter stating “there is a general dysfunction with perpetual changes of key staff in executive posts and ever increasing layers of management” and that “major decisions are frequently made by a handful of people at an executive level without clinical consultation”. The letter continues: “Doctors are by and large used as clinical workhorses. Many carrying huge workloads and holding unacceptable clinical risks”. The letter, first revealed by BBC Look East, asks for an urgent meeting with the chair and states that the medical body “lacks confidence in the executive board to resolve the plight of NSFT”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 10 August 2022
  24. News Article
    A 65-year-old man died after doctors failed to notice serious abnormalities on his X-ray, an investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has revealed. The investigation comes a year after a landmark report by the Ombudsman highlighted failings in how X-rays and scans are reported and followed up in the NHS. Mr B, who was admitted to University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust in May 2019, had been unwell for several days. He was admitted to hospital suffering from abdominal pain and vomiting. An X-ray of his abdomen was taken, which two doctors said did not show any apparent abnormalities. The following day the man’s condition deteriorated. He suffered a heart attack and died. A PHSO investigation found the Trust failed to notice a blockage in his intestine on the X-ray. Because of this failure, Mr B did not receive treatment that could have saved his life. Speaking on this case Ombudsman Rob Behrens said: “The case of Mr B highlights the devastating impact mistakes like this can have. If the Trust had picked up the abnormalities on his X-ray sooner, Mr B could still be with his family today. “As the NHS faces the challenge of rebuilding after the pandemic, it must not lose momentum in improving the way X-rays and scans are handled during a patient’s care.” Progress has been made by the NHS in implementing recommendations made by the Ombudsman in the report; however, Rob Behrens has said more needs to be done to protect patients from serious harm. “Attention and buy-in from the NHS’s senior leaders is crucial if we want to see sustained and meaningful change in how X-rays and scans are managed during a patient’s care. We need more collaboration across clinical specialties, looking at the whole patient journey once a scan has been carried out. "I want to see the NHS treating complaints as a source of insight to drive improvements in patient care. Not learning from mistakes will mean missed opportunities to diagnose patients earlier. In the most serious cases, like that of Mr B, it will mean a death which should never have happened.” Read full story Source: PHSO, 20 July 2022
  25. News Article
    On 24 June the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, the 1973 decision that legalised abortion and left the regulation of abortion to the states.4 At present, about half of the 50 states ban or severely limit abortions, but the picture is changing daily as century old bans go into place in some states, bans are challenged in courts, and state legislatures debate changes to their laws. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) said, “Each piece of legislation is different, using different language and rationales. State legislators are taking it upon themselves to define complex medical concepts without reference to medical evidence. Some of the penalties for violating these vague, unscientific laws include criminal sentences.” Doctors report being confused and fearful about how they can continue to practise in states where abortion laws are changing day by day and sometimes hour by hour. Katie McHugh, an obstetrician and gynaecologist in Indianapolis, where abortion until 20 weeks is legal for the moment, told The BMJ about a patient who arrived from another state (around 200 miles away) with a miscarriage. “A fetal heartbeat could still be detected. The local hospital sent her home and told her to come back if she became very sick.” Instead she travelled two and a half hours by car to McHugh. “I don’t blame the physicians in [the other state]. I don’t know if abortion is legal now a trigger law is in effect. They could face lawsuits. As a physician, it’s unacceptable to have to watch the news to know what’s legal and how to practise,” said McHugh. Read full story Source: BMJ, 1 August 2022
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