Letter: Alison Halford: courageous stand, ignominious deal
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Sir: So Alison Halford, too, is to opt for retirement on medical grounds ('Disgust greets deal to end Halford case', 22 July).
As a General Practitioner I have dealt for many years with the problem of patients requesting support for such retirement. Where the symptoms complained of have minimal relevance to the ability to continue the work in question, but are being used as a lever, merely to obtain financial or other advantage for the patient or their employer, the temptation to comply should be resisted by the doctor. Otherwise, however good the intention, the whole concept of a professional opinion is debased.
If doctors allow themselves to be misused in this way they cannot criticise the Soviet psychiatrists who pronounced political dissidents as mentally ill.
Yours faithfully,
D. J. HANDFORD
Romsley, Worcestershire
22 July
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments