I led a very difficult and personal debate today, about aortic dissection.
This terrible condition is almost unknown to those who don’t know a sufferer. However, it currently kills 2,000 people a year – that is the same number as die annually on our roads.
Following the death of my son Ben from an undiagnosed aortic dissection in 2018, I helped to set up the Aortic Dissection Charitable Trust, whose mission is to unite patients, medical professionals and families in campaigning for improvements along the entire patient pathway for aortic dissection.
There is so much more we can do to improve diagnosis, treatment and research into this awful condition. I asked the Minister for extra research funding, and also for improved guidelines for emergency departments on how to diagnose aortic dissection, amongst other things.
This is incredibly important – with our ageing population, the number of aortic dissections each year is projected to almost double by 2050. No child deserves for their parent to die needlessly, nor any parent their child, nor any husband their wife, and so many of the deaths from aortic dissections are preventable with the right diagnosis and treatment.
You can watch a clip of my speech here, and the full video of the debate online here.
