Poverty and Ill Health

Harry Burns ,  Scotland's chief medical officer had some words of wisdom to say before retiring from his post. "As a doctor at the Royal, I never once wrote a death certificate saying the cause of death was living in a horrible house or unemployment. People die of molecular deaths, such as proteins coagulating in arteries and causing heart attacks and strokes. Yet we know that poor [social] conditions lead to poor health and premature deaths." (Guardian, 12 March) For many members of the working class being exploited all their lives is bad enough but it can even lead to poor health and premature death. RD