Recently, my wife experienced a frightening episode with symptoms associated with an irregular heartbeat, which could have turned out much worse. The doctor orders rest, additional tests and a daily dose of aspirin, along with lots of relaxation. The service literally and figuratively took too many hours. This is a private hospital where the staff sometimes appeared to work with the same speed of molasses.

Killing abandoned animals illegal in Taiwan after the suicide of a vet who was distressed and injected herself with the same drugs used to euthanize dogs and died last year.

She was understood to have become distressed at the abuse that she had received online after being made to kill 700 dogs in two years, and had sought to persuade the authorities to encourage pet adoption. Animal rights activists nicknamed her a “butcher with beauty”.

Taiwanese authorities have denied that her death in Taoyuan City had brought the law changes.