A big thank you to the anonymous author of the article on the sad fate of Charlie Gard (5 August). Healthcare professionals are often placed under enormous pressure to hold out false hope in the face of unpalatable but brute facts. While tabloid newspapers employ emotion applied to speculation, professionals employ reason applied to evidence. When medical decisions come to be informed by the opinions of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and the pope, we know that populism is long past its sell-by date.
Dr Allan Dodds
(Chartered clinical neuropsychologist) Nottingham
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