Paediatrician specialising in child development and novelist who founded the literary periodical Ambit As the title of his 2018 memoir, Two Lives to Lead, hinted at, Martin Bax’s working life was split between two equally demanding duties – that of a consultant developmental paediatrician who published extensively on child disability, and founder of...

Readers respond to a letter which said that MDMA is not helpful in mental health careRachel McNulty (Letters, 19 April) is right to emphasise the need for proper funding of integrated mental health care and social support, but wrong to dismiss MDMA based on a single anecdotal case. I can provide a number of counter-anecdotes showing the value of MDMA...

We’re interested to hear about people’s experiences of whooping cough and how their doctor’s surgery handled itCases of whooping cough have been rising across England, Wales and Scotland. We’re interested to hear from people who have recently been affected.What were your (or your child’s) symptoms? How did your doctors’ surgery handle it and and how...

Neurologist and campaigner for reform of the law on gross negligence manslaughterJenny Vaughan, who has died aged 55 of cancer, was a consultant neurologist best known for her courageous campaigning to reform the law on gross negligence manslaughter, and end the blame game in healthcare.She fearlessly championed two doctors convicted of gross negligence...

This is not a repeat of the Covid pandemic. Yet global governments should follow the US and prepare a responseAvian flu, or H5N1, is making headlines in the United States. The past few years have seen concerning signs of it spreading across the world – whether in chickens in Britain, sea lions in Peru, or Caspian seals in Russia. This time, it is has...

Doctors’ ability to sign people off work is crucial, say readers, especially for those with mental health problemsGuardian readers have reacted with horror and distress to Rishi Sunak’s plans to strip GPs of their power to sign people off work, in favour of “work and health professionals”.We received an unusually high level of responses to a callout...