Category Archives: Health Policy
Statins expert in row over level of risk to patients
A leading Oxford medical researcher who says statins are safe is at loggerheads with a company that makes “misleading” claims about the drugs’ side effects to sell a diagnostic test he invented. More than 6m people take statins — drugs which reduce cholesterol and save an estimated 7,000 lives a year — but there is […]
Why asbestos in schools is STILL a deadly danger to our children: Experts predict 60,000 related deaths over the next 30 years
Annabel Freyberg, the Oxford-educated daughter of an hereditary peer, doesn’t fit the typical picture of a mesothelioma victim. The industrial disease is associated with dockyard and construction workers and is caused when needle-sharp asbestos fibres from building materials become embedded in the lungs. But Annabel, who died two-and-a-half years ago, is one of a growing […]
Why walking by a main road is as bad for you as smoking. And beware of your air freshener, too!
William Phin, six, has a problem which may be triggered by pollution At one, he was left dependent on oxygen cylinders to help him breathe William, from Whitley Bay, north of Newcastle, has obliterative bronchiolitis A lung transplant is the only cure At six, William Phin has already had to deal with a deadly […]
The women saying no to breast cancer screening: As evidence rises that many are harmed by unnecessary treatment, why more women are refusing checks
More women than ever are surviving breast cancer, and that’s often credited to the national breast screening programme. The programme, which offers checks every three years to all women aged from 50 to 70, is thought to prevent 1,300 deaths a year from the disease. Yet women are questioning whether genuine cases are being uncovered at too […]
Parents want end to ban on testing of newborns for fatal diseases
The Sunday Times 27 April 2014 HEALTH officials will be urged this week to lift a ban on the testing of newborn babies for fatal diseases. A report to be presented to the National Screening Committee (NSC) on Wednesday says parents should be told about children’s disabilities as soon as possible to allow the babies […]
Have 800 women been killed by the Pill? The alarming dangers of taking so-called third generation contraceptives
The Daily Mail 12 February 2014 Nancy Berry died after taking Femodene Trudi Banning suffered a blood clot when she was 22 She had also been taking Femodene She survived but is now infertile Warns other women to be aware of the risks Campaigners calling on some Pills to be banned When Trudi Banning collapsed, […]
800,000 killed by beta blockers
The Sunday Times 26 January 2014 RESEARCH suggesting that as many as 800,000 people could have died unnecessarily across Europe over the past five years after being prescribed beta-blockers has sparked a row between doctors. As well as combating high blood pressure, the drugs have also been recommended for use since 2009 to reduce […]
Mo Zimmer:elderly run faster and faster
The Sunday Times 19 January 2014 EVEN people in their nineties can benefit from strength and endurance training usually reserved for elite athletes, according to a study. The research into the athletic capacity of the very elderly comes as a new breed of endurance athletes in their seventies and eighties are reporting that they […]
Should your grumpy old man be on HRT? Despite doctors’ concerns,growing numbers of men insist testosterone jabs have transformed their lives
The Daily Mail 1 January 2014 Like many men in early middle age, David Quincey felt the best years of his life were already over. At 42 he was putting on weight. He was depressed and irritated by the demands of his teenage children. He felt tired out, unsexy and generally past it. ‘I was […]
Drug firms look away while my children die
The Sunday Times 17 November 2013 A MOTHER has been told that her three teenage children will die before reaching adulthood — and there is nothing doctors can do to save them. Shekeela Ahmed, 45, a businesswoman, has already lost her eldest daughter, Sonam, 17, to Lafora disease, a rare aggressive form of epilepsy. Her […]