On Fame and Post Mortem Status.

Dame Maggie Smith died on Friday. Widely considered one of Britain’s finest actresses, she was a double Oscar winner, a regular star of both screen and stage, and best known to the public in recent years for her starring roles in the Harry Potter franchise and the Downton Abbey costume saga. She was 89.

For two days straight the BBC news website led with her death, and added more and more mostly predictable platitudes from the great and the good in the industry because that’s what always happens when a public figure dies.

But being greeted for two consecutive days with a website dominated by Ms Smith, it was easy to miss the report of another death in a smaller piece at the bottom of the page.

The unwilling star of that report was a 45-year-old woman who was taken to A&E at her local hospital suffering from asthma complications. The senior doctor on duty refused to treat her – for reasons which were not given – despite being apprised of the fact that the patient was in a life-threatening condition. And so the patient died.

I asked myself why a well known actress who died at 89 – a good long life by anybody’s reckoning – should be given such priority over a member of the general public who died at 45, apparently as a result of medical negligence. The answer is obvious, of course: Maggie Smith was famous; the other woman was unknown to anyone other than family and friends.

I have nothing whatsoever against Maggie Smith; she was indeed a consummate actress. But is that a sufficient reason? I have an opinion on the matter which needn’t be stated.