A cocktail that’s too much of a good thing | Letters

Regarding the Brompton cocktail, a mixture of heroin and cocaine that was used for severe pain in terminally ill patients (Letters, 6 May), the Glasgow recipe was heroin, cocaine, gin, Largactil and honey. It could be alarmingly effective. Many years ago, my late partner, faced with a patient in intractable pain, issued a prescription for the cocktail.In the middle of evening surgery, my partner was called to an emergency at the local pub. The patient had felt so much better, he decided to go for a drink, and the combination of the Brompton plus the traditional “hauf an’ a hauf” (whisky and ale), had proved too much

UK woman who took pills during lockdown cleared of illegal abortion

A woman has been cleared of illegally terminating a pregnancy, after taking abortion pills during lockdown.Nicola Packer took the pills at home in November 2020. She had been prescribed mifepristone and misoprostol after a remote consultation.She later delivered a foetus, which the court heard was estimated to be about 26 weeks in gestation, which she brought with her to Chelsea and Westminster hospital, Isleworth crown court heard.She was arrested in hospital and later charged with “unlawfully administering to herself a poison or other noxious thing” with the “intent to procure a miscarriage”

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 pediatric deaths were reported during the 2023-2024 season.Based on data from FluSurv-NET, the cumulative hospitalization rate for this season is the highest observed since the 2010-2011 season. It estimates that there have been at least 47m illnesses, 610,000 hospitalizations and 26,000 deaths from flu so far this season

‘Utterly traumatised’: anger at ordeal of UK woman accused of illegal abortion

When Nicola Packer took a pregnancy test in November 2020, as the country was in lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic, she did not even believe she was pregnant.Aged 41 at the time, she thought it more likely that she was perimenopausal, but had been feeling under the weather and when her friend – with whom the pregnancy had been conceived – suggested she took a test, she only did so to “prove him wrong”.When the test, bought from a chemist around the corner, came back positive, she was “shocked”, but was never in any doubt about what to do. She had never wanted children, and immediately sought a termination.Under emergency provisions introduced during the pandemic – which were later made permanent – abortion pills could be dispatched by post, following a remote consultation, in pregnancies up to 10 weeks’ gestation

Gangs hold such influence over jails ‘it keeps me awake at night’, says Timpson

Organised criminal gangs who “corrupt” staff and enforce drug debts with violence hold such a huge influence over jails across England and Wales that it “keeps me awake at night”, the prisons minister has said.James Timpson told the Guardian that Prison Service staff who worked with criminal gangs to smuggle drugs and contraband into jails were being targeted by a “beefed up” counter-corruption unit that last year prosecuted 37 officers.His comments follow deepening concerns from prison watchdogs that criminal gangs are taking control of prisons – a claim Lord Timpson rejects. Criminologists have said the gangs are targeting and corrupting inexperienced officers.Timpson said in an interview: “Serious organised crime is a big problem, a huge problem, and it’s one of the things that keeps me awake at night, because of the impact it has on a prison’s environment, from drugs, debt, violence and everything that goes with that

‘It makes no sense’: Macmillan hiring for senior roles after axing 26% of staff

Macmillan Cancer Support has come under fire after launching a recruitment drive for a series of senior corporate roles just months after axing a quarter of its staff.The Guardian revealed in February that more than 400 workers had been let go as the charity reduced its workforce by 26%, downgraded its helpline and scrapped its 100-year-old hardship scheme that provided millions of pounds in grants to the poorest cancer patients.This week Macmillan told staff and partners it was making further cuts, scrapping its £14m-a-year welfare advice service. It will cease funding for hundreds of frontline advisers, employed by Citizens Advice, who help cancer patients navigate the benefits system and deal with the extra costs of their illness, such as food, heating and transport.The charity said in February it was making changes after feeling the impact of the “tough financial climate”