Apothecary 2020

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COVID-19 and to treat those infected, employing their expertise against a disease arguably just as terrifying as its 17 th century equivalent in terms of impact and resistance to established treatments. In this context, Daniel Defoe's reflections in his A Journal of the Plague Year have great poignancy: ”I think it ought to be recorded to the honour of such men, as well clergy as physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, magistrates, and officers or every kind, as also all useful people who ventured their lives in discharge of their duty, as most certainly all such as stayed did to the last degree; and several of all these kinds did not only venture but lose their lives on that sad occasion.” Today's COVID-19 pandemic prompts echoes of this gratitude for those working in such challenging circumstances. Theriaca Londinensis - The working copy of the 1809 Pharmacopoeia Londinensis, used in the Society's laboratories includes two handwritten pages of the 1745 formula for Theriac Andromachi, showing the longevity of its popularity. 17
The Ethics of Care Home Visiting in the COVID-19 Pandemic Andrew Papanikitas, FRCGP, PhD Course Director, Course in philosophy and ethics of healthcare, Society of Apothecaries, UK The following essay was inspired by a discussion of the History and Philosophy Fellows of the Faculty of History and Philosophy. COVID has created a smorgasbord of ethical dilemmas, not just for policymakers and practitioners but members of the public also. One potentially agonising set of these issues is whether when and how to visit someone in a care home. Care homes residents and staff have disproportionately suffered, their population often older, frailer and sicker than the rest of us. As I walk past my local care home, I can see a banners advertising that they are COVID free. A triumph with an implicit plea for protection. Visiting to care homes almost entirely ceased during the first pandemic lockdown in the UK. If it took place, it did so in a very controlled manner with many precautions. Visitors were strictly limited in terms of time and number and had to wear personal protective equipment or communicate with loved once via a video call. There are similar accounts from other residential care settings such as hospices and psychiatric hospitals. These restrictions had a significant moral cost, however. Many families were unable to see or be with their loved ones during their final hours, or to support a relative during the longer goodbye of major illness and dementia, where the presence of relatives can be the very anchor someone needs to retain their identity as a person. This also has taken a toll on care staff, because distress can in some senses also be contagious. People can be forgiven for their indignation if they are now being told that they can enjoy a meal in a restaurant, unmasked but not spend time with grandparents if those grandparents are in residential care. There are opportunities from all these environments to learn from one another. It is clear that a one-size fits all approach will not work, either in among individual cases or among institutions. Some situations are risker than others. Public health risks do not just travel in one direction. We all should consider each other when making policies, when working with vulnerable people in our society and when deciding for ourselves what is the right thing to do. A psychiatrist colleague described a care facility during lockdown as a ‘household’. This metaphor only works in lockdown however. If we imagine a house with a large family where every member of the house invites one or more friends to a visit every day this clearly would have violated lock-down rules. Try thinking that one through in terms of lockdown and during re-emerging from lockdown (for better or for worse). To think purely in terms of rights and safety is too simplistic. When I discuss medical ethics with students, I ask them who has in interest in any given case. It is not just doctors and ethicists, who make ethical decisions or assign different value to life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness. Residents (not just the one being visited) may or may not have an interest in survival. They also have an interest in living well. They may also have no expressed interest whatsoever in being visited - but that does not necessarily mean that it is right to deny access to close family. Friends and family have an interest in seeing their loved ones and in not catching an illness which they could pass to other family and contacts. Carers also want to reduce the risk not just for their patients but also for themselves but want to see the joy of someone getting a hug from a grandchild. We all have an interest in reducing or avoiding a second wave of the pandemic but most agree that life under housearrest is not good for mental health. Interests are not the same as desires either - I may want to see my relative but I may also not want to put them in harms way. We 18
Page 1 and 2: 2020
Page 3 and 4: Contents The Court and the Livery C
Page 5 and 6: Editorial 2020 will go down in hist
Page 7 and 8: ever tasted. Both dinners were exce
Page 9 and 10: liberation Bergen-Belsen from 500 t
Page 11 and 12: In the last year the staff team has
Page 13 and 14: Sir George Clark (1972). A History
Page 15 and 16: Treasurer’s Report It is almost a
Page 17 and 18: apothecaries and surgeons are dead
Page 19: other factors? Certainly, documents
Page 23 and 24: Registrar’s Report Cornelius O’
Page 25 and 26: Dr Jeremy Howick, John Locke Lectur
Page 27 and 28: The Parlour Stained Glass Windows P
Page 29 and 30: Goddess), could lead the souls of d
Page 31 and 32: Livery Committee Chairman’s Repor
Page 33 and 34: The Club’s founders commissioned
Page 35 and 36: on making a return visit next year
Page 37 and 38: Curator’s Notes This year has nat
Page 39 and 40: Another very commendable initiative
Page 41 and 42: Faculty of Conflict and Catastrophe
Page 43 and 44: The Master’s Fund Never has our c
Page 45 and 46: Friends of the Archives The Friends
Page 47 and 48: Society Contacts Website: www.apoth

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