In today’s episode: Assisted Dying moves closer to becoming UK law. The proposed legislation to allow people to end their own lives has moved through a second debate in the House of Lords. What do MPs and doctors think of the Bill as it stands? And, new ways to pull research findings from observation alone makes us question whether correlation really doesn’t equal causation. We find out - what is Target Trial Emulation?

The BMJ’s Elisabeth Mahase speaks to Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, sponsor of the Assisted Dying Bill. Why did she propose the legislation? What has been her impression of its movement through Parliament and the opposition it has faced? We also hear from Jamilla Hussain and Gareth Owen, doctors who attended a BMJ parliamentary roundtable on the topic.

Finally, the BMJ’s Duncan Jarvies talks to our research editors about new ways to develop evidence from observational studies. What are the limits to this new technique of causal inference?

Reading list

MP behind assisted dying bill warns that terminally ill people and their families are being failed, ahead of Lords debate

Assisted dying bill: Lords debate concerns over lack of safeguards

Transparent reporting of observational studies emulating a target trial: the TARGET Statement

In today’s episode:

The BMJ's international editor, Jocalyn Clark talks about a new series we've just published - examining the arms industry as a commercial determinant of health. Jocalyn also speaks to Mark Bellis, from Liverpool John Moores university about why he thinks it’s time we take the impact of the arms industry on health seriously.

The blockade on food reaching Gaza is in place again, risking more starvation. Elizabeth Mahase, clinical reporter for the BMJ, has been finding out about the acute, chronic, and generational impact on the palestinian population. She speaks to Jonathan Wells, professor of anthropology and paediatric nutrition at University College London, and Tessa Roseboom, professor of early development and health at the University of Amsterdam, Marie McGrath former head of the Emergency Nutrition Network, and Chris McIntosh, humanitarian response advisor for the charity, Oxfam.

Finally, an analysis we published earlier this year made the case that "tsunami" of preventative care is destabilised the work of GPs. Helen Macdonald was at the Preventing Overdiagnosis conference and spoke to some of the authors - Minna Johansson, associate professor at University of Gothenberg, Stephen Martin, professor at UMass Chan Medical School, and Iona Heath, retired GP and former president of the RCGP.

Reading list

Arms industry as a commercial determinant of health

Starvation is a lifelong sentence: Gaza’s civilians must be protected in accordance with international humanitarian law

Sacrificing patient care for prevention: distortion of the role of general practice

CRISPR technology has revolutionised biological research, and for the first time it’s out of the lab and into the NHS, as NICE has approved its use as cost effective. Kenneth Charles, senior lecturer in haematology at the University of the West Indies explains how the treatment works, and what concerns he has about it's implementation.

Also this week, a new investigation on bmj.com has looked at a number of British companies who are offering to collect children's teeth for stem cell extraction and storage. Freelance investigative journalist Emma Wilkinson explains the "outrageous" claims she found them making.

Finally - we’re finishing with the football. Team GB had a strong showing this year -  our over 25 men’s team brought the trophy home, and our womans team competed for the first time To explain more about the medical world cup we're joined by Minnan Al-Khafaji, captain of the women’s team, and Jamie Thoroughgood, captain of the men’s team.

Read more.

Banking baby teeth: companies may be misleading parents with “outrageous claims”

CRISPR therapy for sickle cell disease

Follow the British Medical Football Team on instagram

If you’ve been in a high street pharmacy or supermarket recently, chances are you’ll have seen home test kits for all sorts of indications; blood sugar level, vitamin deficiencies, thyroid function, and even some forms of cancer.

A new series of article in The BMJ revealing serious concerns with the reliability of these home tests, and raises questions about their regulation.

Jonathan Deeks, professor of Biostatistics at the University of Birmingham, joins us to discuss what these tests are, and how his team have rated their usability.

Also this week, the sad death of a child in Liverpool from measles highlights the growing outbreak in the UK - and this may be one of the first times many doctors have come across the infection. Frances Dutton, GP at the Small Heath Medical Practice reminds us how to recognise the sign of the infection.

Reading list

Direct-to-consumer self-tests sold in the UK in 2023

How to recognise and manage measles

Professor Gillian Leng, President of the Royal Society of Medicine was asked to carry out an independent review into the role of physician and anaesthetic associates.

She sits down with Kamran Abbasi, editor in chief of The BMJ, to discuss her findings. In the UK, the rollout of physician associates, NHS staff who took on some of the tasks of doctors, has been both haphazard and controversial.

Originally copied from similar roles in the U.S., British PAs were introduced in the early 2000s. The level of clinical responsibility they were asked to take on began to vary around the country, driven mostly by the workforce needs of individual Trusts.

The lack of clarity about their roles lead to disquiet with doctors, worry for patients, and an increasingly toxic debate on social media.

This week we’re focusing on the NHS.

On the 3rd of July the UK’s Prime Minister, Kier Starmer finally announced the NHS’ 10 year plan. His Labour government laid out a vision for where the healthcare service should head over the next decade.

The announcement has been met with mixed responses. The plan has some good ideas - but a lack of vision combined with scarcity of detail leave many questions about how well its aims can be implemented.

In this podcast we're joined by 3 experts to dissect the details of this plan

Reading list

News analysis: What is the NHS 10 year plan promising and how will it be delivered?

Editorial: Government’s 10 year plan for the NHS in England

David Oliver's column: The NHS 10 year plan—more a set of ambitions than a plan

Rebecca Coombes interviews Dr. Tom Dolphin, consultant anaesthetist and newly elected chair of the BMA Council.

Watch this interview on our YouTube.

Last December, The BMJ published an investigation into the 2009 PLATO trial - exposing serious problems with that study’s data analysis and reporting.  Our follow up investigation has shown that those data problems extend to other key supporting evidence in AstraZeneca’s initial application to regulators.

Peter Doshi, senior editor in the BMJ’s Investigations unit, and Rita Redberg, cardiologist and Professor of Medicine at UCSF and former editor of JAMA Internal Medicine, join us to explain what this means for scientific integrity, and trust in the FDA's approval processes.

Also in this episode. A group of international authors are arguing that weightloss advice given in primary care might actually be doing more harm than good - it’s ineffective and potentially reinforces damaging stigma. 

To explain why they came to that conclusion we're joined by Juan Franco editor in chief of BMJ EBM, and a practicing GP in Germany, and Emma Grundtvig Gram, from the Centre for General Practice at the University of Copenhagen

Doubts over landmark heart drug trial: ticagrelor PLATO study

Ticagrelor doubts: inaccuracies uncovered in key studies for AstraZeneca’s billion dollar drug

Beyond body mass index: rethinking doctors’ advice for weight loss

In this episode, we hear about ketamine addiction. It's in the news, but the rise in addiction amongst young people in the UK has caused concern for some time.  Irene Guerrini and Nicola Kalk, both addiction psychiatrists from the National Addiction Centre, join us to explain why its become a problem.

In November 2024 Wes Streeting, the UK’s health and social care minister, announced that he was planning to introduce league tables for hospitals - and would be linking managers' pay and continued employment to those outcomes. 

Richard Lilford, from the University of Birmingham, Timothy Hofer, from the University of Michigan, and Ian Leistikow, an inspector at the Dutch Health and Youth Care Inspectorate, join us to explain why this is a bad idea.

Non-prescribed ketamine use is rising in the UK

Hospital league tables, targets, and performance incentives should be used with care

Devi Sridhar's new book  “How Not to Die  (Too Soon) - The Lies We’ve Been Sold, and the Policies That Could Save Us” is focussing on the way wellness culture ignores the societal context in which health is really created. As a trained personal trainer and professor of global public health, Devi's straddling both of those worlds, and joins us to talk about how she would tackle our lowering life expectancy.

Also, John Downey, from the Centre of Health Technology at Peninsula Medical School, and Martha Lee from NHS Devon Integrated Care Board, have written about Plymouth's "Living Lab" - which has been set up to test how health tech can actually work in the real world, but also (importantly, critically) how it can be properly evaluated and integrated into the NHS and social care.

How Not to Die (Too Soon)

Harnessing predictive prevention to shift elderly care from hospital to community in England