BMJ Publishing Group

Pakistan's Doctors Call for Clarity on Bhutto's Death

Author(s): Ashfaq Yusufzai
Reviewed work(s):
Source: BMJ: British Medical Journal, Vol. 336, No. 7635 (Jan. 12, 2008), p. 65
Published by: BMJ Publishing Group
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20508654 .
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 ?l

defence forces Pakistan's doctors call for

got back tome and said, 'Thearrestswere
justified.' Icomplained about themannerof
the arrests and the fact that themen were left
clarity on Bhutto's death
outside for so many hours. Eventually theywere Ashfaq Yusufzai PESHWAR said that she saw two wounds on Ms Bhutto's
allowed to go into a jeep. Now we're trying to The Pakistan Medical Association has body at the hospital's emergency ward.
locate them via the Red Cross,"Ms Weingarten expressed concern over the conflicting medi Video footage taken by Pakistan's Dawn
said, before Mr Kader's release. cal reports regarding the death of former television channel and theUnited Kingdom'
IDFsoldiers are checking each patient or prime minister Benazir Bhutto and has asked Channel 4 showed aman in sunglasses shoot
physician who enters or leaves. "It's impossible for an international tribunal to be formed to ing her from close range and another man
towork freelywhen you know there are armed ascertain the real causes of her death. blowinghimselfup immediatelyafterwards.
soldiers outside the door," DrHamdan said. Umer Ayub Khan, the association's presi These videos contradictthe InteriorMinis
"It's inhuman. dent, said that the report compiled by the doc try's statement that said she died from hitting
IDFsourcesconfirmnedthe arrests, sayingthe tors at the Rawalpindi General Hospital had her head on the vehicle.
men had been wanted bythe GeneralSecuity merely mentioned thatMs Bhutto died of tem No autopsy was performed on the body,
Service, butwould notmake anyfurthercomment. poral fracture,which he said was not enough. so the cause of her death remains a mystery.
The association says that the conflicting Asif Ali Zardari, her husband, refused an
medical reports are sending the wrong mes autopsy, saying that the reports can be
sages among themedical community. manipulated. "We also know how she died,"
Patients escape "It is important to ascertain whether she he told reporters.
died on the spot of profuse bleeding, or in At the request of Pakistan's president,
penalties for not hospital, or of bullets or bomb," he said. Pervez Musharraf, the UK prime minis
ter, Gordon Brown, sent a five member
taking doctor's advice Ms Bhutto was assassinated in a firearm
and bomb attack in Pakistan's garrison city team of the Metropolitan Police Service's
Annette Tufts HEIDELBERG Rawalpindi immediately after she had counterterrorism branch to Pakistan. One of
Patients with chronic disease in Germany addressed an election rally on 27 December. the teammembers said, however, that it is too
will now be penalised only if they explicitly A team of seven doctors at Rawalpindi late to determine the exact circumstances of
declare that they have not taken drugs and General Hospital initially reported thatMs her death, as officials hosed down the venue
followed their doctor's advice and will con Bhutto died of wounds to the left temporal immediately after the blast occurred.
tinue doing this in the future. region of her head. The next day the Inte "All the forensic evidence has been lost
The government originally wanted to riorMinistry attributed her death to a skull from the crime scene, and there is little usable
impose financial penalties on any patient fracture caused by a lever attached to the sun footage of the attack," he said.
who did not follow medical advice. But roof of her bulletproof vehicle. Ms Bhutto's Legal and medical experts say that the
the plan was abandoned after doctors and party contradicted the government's version, only way to establish the cause of her death
patient groups mounted vigorous protests, saying that she had been shot in the neck. would be to exhume and examine her body,
saying that it would destroy the doctor Her party spokeswoman, Sherry Rehman, something her family has opposed so far.
patient relationship. The legality and ethics
of the plan were also questioned.
The compromise was reached just before
Christmas by the federal joint committee
of doctors, hospitals, and health insurance
companies(Gemeinsame
Bundesausschuss),
which informs government decisions on the
refunding of healthcare costs. The ruling
took effect at the start of thismonth.
"A legally sound regulation on therapy
compliance has to be based on an agreement
between doctor and patient," explained the
chairman of the Gemeinsame Bundesauss
chuss, Rainer Hess.
Doctors will now have to certify that all
patients with long term conditions are stick
ing to their treatment unless the patient
refuses the treatment.
The certificate will limit a patient's contri
bution towards healthcare costs to a maxi
mum of 1% of their gross income. Patients
without a certificate will pay 2%. Exemp
tions will include children under 18. Mourners lightcandles infrontof a portraitof BenazirBhutto inLahore

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