TY - JOUR T1 - Bad Medicine: Holly JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 454 LP - 454 DO - 10.3399/bjgp19X705389 VL - 69 IS - 686 AU - Des Spence Y1 - 2019/09/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/69/686/454.abstract N2 - I would give my life for hers and suffer anything to protect her. She is my daughter.The first time I met Holly was with her mother. ‘She’s rattling’, said her mother. Holly was in heroin withdrawal in her mother’s womb and her fetal legs kicked her rhythmically. After birth she was given an opiate detox in the special-care baby unit and immunised against hepatitis B. A beautiful baby and much loved by her family. Thankfully, she was free of other infectious diseases — her mother was a hepatitis C carrier. Uncles, aunts, and grandparents cooed over their new addition to the family. All the best that money could buy — new clothes, pram, and cot. As Holly went home her name was placed on the Child Protection Register. Holly was free. She gazed, mesmerised, from the 20th floor … ER -