Name that book, antibiotic speculative fiction edition

Post date: 2020-07-02 05:57:54

I'm trying to remember a book about antibiotic resistance and patients needing to justify their contribution to society before receiving treatment. I heard about it on the radio a few years ago, and my Google skills are failing me.

In the story, special courts exist and any patients who need antibiotics have to petition the judges to authorise treatment. The courts then decide whether the patient has paid enough tax, lived a good enough life, and otherwise who gets to live and who dies.

From what I remember, it was serialised on BBC Radio 4, probably their Book At Bedtime or Book Of The Week, at some point in the last few years. I've already ruled out Eve Smith's The Waiting Room which is too recent, and Val McDermid's radio play Resistance which is similar but not what I'm looking for.

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