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’s mother an inquest was held. Four orthodox doctors, two physicians and two surgeons, testified that the pills had accelerated the boy’s death, one arguing that the pills directly caused the death ‘by inflaming his stomach and intestines’. The coroner’s jury returned a verdict of manslaughter (with one dissenter). Webb was then tried at York Assizes. Several orthodox experts testified against Webb. Only
promoted in the first place and withdrawn from the market a few years later, amid bitter allegations that the drug in question caused injury and even death, is long. Opren, 3 the benzodiazepine tranquillisers such as Valium, 4 human growth hormone, 5 the pill itself, 6 the painkiller Vioxx 7 and most recently, the type-2 diabetes drug Avandia 8 are but a random sample of the better-known cases. Allegations of gross profit-making by multinational drug companies have proliferated. 9 Pharmaceutical companies have been criticised for testing products destined for the
infallible contraceptive has yet to be invented. 7 Contraceptives, such as the pill and the IUD (intrauterine device), carry a price tag. They pose some risk to women’s health. Contraception is a medical as well as a social issue. And it largely concerns women, since except for the still experimental male ‘pill’, men must choose between the condom and vasectomy. The more sophisticated contraceptives which pose medical risk are used by women. A doctor advising a woman on contraception owes her the same duties as in any other area of medicine. He must offer her competent