The Know Daily - Wednesday 21 February

_{Read in 5m 45s ∙ Listening to Miley Cyrus ∙}

Japanese researchers have discovered a new species: the skeleton panda sea squirt 👇. Officially named Clavelina ossipandae, the sea creatures have a panda-like appearance with a skeletal body structure and black spots. Whether you find them “cute or creepy” is another matter…

📝 Martha’s rule rollout

Hospital patients will be granted the right to obtain an urgent second opinion about their care in certain scenarios, as the NHS plans to roll out “Martha’s rule” across England.

What’s the story?
From April, 100 hospitals with critical care units will be invited to sign up for the initiative, which will see seriously ill patients and their families able to rapidly obtain a second opinion if they are worried about their condition getting worse. 

Participating hospitals will also be expected to “record daily information” on a patient’s health after speaking directly with their patients and families, reported The Independent.

Patients already have the option to seek a second opinion, noted the BBC, but the exact system in place varies between hospitals. Martha’s rule is designed to standardise the process. 

Why is it called Martha’s rule? 
The initiative is the “direct result of pressure” put on politicians and NHS bosses by the parents of Martha Mills, who died of sepsis in hospital in 2021 because her symptoms were missed, reported The Guardian. Doctors at the hospital did not listen to her parents’ concerns over her condition - and a coroner ruled last year that Martha would have likely survived if she had been transferred to intensive care earlier. 

In a joint statement, Martha’s parents said they hoped that the initiative would “alter medical culture” to “give patients a little more power” and “encourage listening on the part of medical professionals”, reported inews.

What happens next?
The initial rollout in 100 hospitals will be evaluated over the next year, and may be followed by further funding to include all acute hospitals. 

NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard said that while the need for escalation “will hopefully only be needed in a small number of cases”, “I have no doubt that the introduction of Martha's rule has the potential to save many lives in the future”.