Medical Journal News

The UK government’s tepid response to the House of Lords Food, Diet, and Obesity Committee report on the obesity crisis is concerning,1 particularly its refusal to exclude food companies from policy discussions in the face of such clear conflicts of interest. The rising burden of obesity related cardiovascular disease is especially concerning in light of The BMJ’s recent investigation into McDonald’s systematic efforts to circumvent local authorities’ health based planning decisions.2The similarity to previous tobacco industry interference is strong and well documented. The Obesity Health Alliance’s 2024 report shows the extent to which unhealthy food industries use strategies identical to those used by the tobacco industries in the past to resist public health action.3 In the same manner that tobacco industries have said that their products can be part of a healthy lifestyle, McDonald’s says that its drive-throughs promote physical activity and healthy eating. This commercial influence is particularly concerning...

The General Medical Council (GMC) plans to appeal against a tribunal’s finding that a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist’s fitness to practise is not currently impaired, although six years ago he removed two patients’ ovaries without consent and on multiple occasions examined patients without a chaperone.In February a medical practitioner tribunal decided1 that Ali Shokouh-Amiri was guilty of misconduct over the incidents, which happened in 2017 and 2018. At the time he was employed by the Medical Specialist Group in Guernsey, becoming a partner in 2017, and was head of gynaecological oncology at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital. But the tribunal “considered that Dr Shokouh-Amiri has shown good insight into his failures which has developed over the last six years and that he has put in place procedures and actions to address his failings and to ensure they do not happen again,” said the legally qualified chair, Stephen Gowland.Shokouh-Amiri faced a catalogue...

by Christine Laine, Dianne Babski, Vivienne C. Bachelet, Till W. Bärnighausen, Christopher Baethge, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, Frank Frizelle, Laragh Gollogly, Sabine Kleinert, Elizabeth Loder, João Monteiro, Eric J. Rubin, Peush Sahni, Christina C. Wee, Jin-Hong Yoo, Lilia Zakhama

In this Editorial, representatives of the International Committee of Medical Editors discuss the need for multi-stakeholder involvement to recognize and counter the actions of predatory journals.

General practitioners will be able to prescribe the weight loss injection tirzepatide (Mounjaro) to “prioritised patient cohorts” from 23 June, NHS England has said.New interim commissioning guidance instructs integrated care boards (ICBs) to meet the funding costs of tirzepatide and sets out a phased implementation plan for the next three years.1Last June the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published draft guidance recommending tirzepatide for use in primary care settings and specialist weight management services.2 NICE estimated that the total population eligible for tirzepatide was 3.4 million people.NHS England called for a phased rollout of the treatment to avoid overwhelming the NHS.3 NICE accepted this request in its final guidance published in December and asked NHS England to develop a detailed plan of who would be eligible in the first pilot phases, on the basis of clinical need rather than just body mass index (BMI).4NHS England’s guidance sets...

The BMA’s Resident Doctors Committee (RDC) has reached an agreement with the government over how exception reporting in England will be reformed, officially ending the union’s dispute with the government over the issue.Exception reporting is the process through which doctors can report differences in their total hours worked when compared with their set schedule—times when they were unable to take their contractual rest breaks or when educational or training opportunities were missed—and the levels of support available to them.The BMA has said that the current system is “not fit for purpose” because inaccessible systems, time consuming processes, and the fear of repercussions are deterring doctors from reporting such instances. “This not only means doctors don’t get the pay and training opportunities they deserve but also means that NHS hospitals are missing out on crucial information about how they are functioning,” the BMA said.The RDC voted to go into dispute with...

This editorial by McCartney et al(BMJ 2025;388:r593; doi:10.1136/bmj.r593, 25 March) has been amended to clarify that the benefits review described in the sixth paragraph applied to recipients of employment and support allowance.

The need for shared decision making and informed consent in gynaecology is not new.1 When the Supreme Court enshrined it in law in Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board,2 it was not doing anything revolutionary; these concepts were already part of General Medical Council guidance.3 But practical implementation was, and is, problematic.Good communication with a sympathetic and empathic listener is crucial for patients to feel safe. Safety is so fundamental to compassionate healthcare that it beggars belief that women frequently leave their gynaecology appointments feeling distressed, violated, or traumatised. Once a woman feels unsafe, once trust is lost, she is unlikely to return.Despite concerns about invasive gynaecological procedures being expressed over many years, progress is glacially slow, a fact emphasised by the recent report of the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee4 and the UK government’s response.5 The gaslighting of women in gynaecological settings is commonplace; severely painful, invasive procedures,...

My husband lives with a spinal cord injury. Hospital admission can be traumatic when I’m excluded despite being his carer.1 I’m privy to information about his care that can’t be gleaned in a single handover with clinicians. I’ve felt unwelcome during the admission process, and healthcare staff haven’t treated me as an expert partner in care. Transitions involve patients and families moving between different clinical contexts—but too often their experiences and expertise are lost or undermined in the process.Problems with admissions and transition are seen across care settings and patient groups. Al Aynsley-Green, the first national clinical director for children in government, has expressed his concerns about patients receiving chaotic care and scant communication, which is often inappropriate for their age group or condition. He tells of a young woman with a complex health condition being cared for in a cramped overflow hospital bay alongside older people with dementia and...

The United Nations has called for “justice and answers” after the bodies of eight Palestinian medics, six first responders, and one UN staff member—still in their uniforms and gloves—were recovered from a mass grave in southern Gaza after an attack by Israeli forces.1The UN said that the “clearly identified” humanitarian workers had been dispatched to collect injured people on 23 March in the Rafah area and had been travelling in five ambulances, a fire truck, and a clearly marked UN vehicle. They then “came under fire from Israeli forces who were advancing in the area,” after which their teams lost contact with them.On 31 March the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, Tom Fletcher, posted on the social media platform X,2 “15 emergency and aid workers in Gaza were found buried by their wrecked and well-marked vehicles . . . They were killed by Israeli forces while trying to save lives.”The Israel...

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New England Journal of Medicine, Ahead of Print.