Durno and Abioye raise important and poignant points in their articles about communicating with deaf people.12 I agree entirely—we need to do more to ensure that patients who have hearing loss are not disadvantaged when they are using NHS services.During my internal medicine training, I learnt from patients who were deaf about SignLive technology (https://signlive.co.uk/), which connected me to a live British Sign Language (BSL) translator on an iPad, allowing me to communicate clearly with patients and their families. This technology was invaluable, and the experience was profoundly positive ..read more

On 21 April a woman with a rare and incurable disease became the first person in Peru to die with medical assistance, potentially opening the way to legal euthanasia in the South American country.Ana Estrada, a 47 year old psychologist, had polymyositis, which causes muscle wasting, for the past three decades. She spent most of her life in a bed connected to a mechanical respirator, requiring almost daily assistance from a nurse.Estrada still managed to obtain a psychology degree, work as a therapist, and become the face of a movement dedicated to opening the way for other Peruvians with simil ..read more

A former GP and climate activist who spent 32 days in prison for breaching an injunction banning protests outside an oil terminal against the production and use of fossil fuels has been suspended from the UK medical register for five months.Sarah Benn told a medical practitioners tribunal that she refused to remediate her conduct but intended to continue protesting until the government took urgent action to protect its citizens and future generations from the effects of climate breakdown. She said that she was “blowing my whistle as loud as I can.”The tribunal emphasised that professional rule ..read more

The surgeon glared at me. When I asked what I’d done wrong they replied that they found it “scary” that I’d used the “wrong” hand to cut sutures when assisting in theatre. What’s scary to me is how easily the challenges faced by lefthanded trainees are dismissed—an experience I’ve had not only in surgery but across all medical specialties. Medicine needs to move away from the idea of “right” and “wrong” hands, so that lefthanded students learning examination and surgical skills are properly supported in caring for patients.Left in a right worldFrom the beginning of my first year of medical sch ..read more

Our household doesn’t rely on alarm clocks. Instead, it’s the consistent thumping of my 18 year old brother’s foot against the side of his crib that signals 6 am. His profound autism and developmental delay are woven into the fabric of our family’s daily routine, and his silent cues shape our interactions. Breakfast, a simple meal for many, is an intricate dialogue for us. My brother doesn’t communicate with words, but his actions speak volumes. A fleeting smile and hand rub mean yes, while a whine or deliberate head turn signals no.The complexity of caregivingMy life is completely mapped out ..read more

Urgent action is needed to stem the exodus of doctors from the NHS, which is damaging patient care and costing taxpayers up to £2.4bn a year, the BMA has warned. With an estimated 15 000 to 23 000 doctors in England having left the NHS prematurely between September 2022 and September 2023, the cost of replacing them and their expertise would be between £1.6bn and £2.4bn, it said.With rising numbers of doctors indicating they were taking steps to leave the profession, the BMA warned this figure could rise to as much as £5bn a year in the coming years. This represents not only a huge loss of med ..read more

The BMA has expressed disappointment at the Court of Appeal’s dismissal of a judicial review into the government’s handling of NHS pension reforms, saying that doctors were being made to pay for the mistakes of ministers.In 2022 the BMA was granted permission for a judicial review appealing the government’s attempts to make members pay for the costs of the McCloud remedy—the mechanism put in place to fix mistakes the government made when reforming the NHS pension scheme in 2015.1 The McCloud judgment found that the government had discriminated against younger members when it implemented change ..read more

Pregnant women in the US will get specific protections while working, including rules about breaks, time off for medical appointments, and temporary work accommodations, according to new federal rules.The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which enforces federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee, published the final regulation on 15 April and it will go into effect on 18 June.1The regulation is part of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which went into effect last year, and will apply nationwide to employers with more than 15 worke ..read more

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