Clive Bonny on Atrial Fibrillation, Blood Thinners & the "Sudden Death Syndrome" Nobody Checks For | Pharma Prescribed
⚠️ This episode discusses suicide and bereavement. If you're affected, please reach out to a professional or a crisis line — in the UK, Samaritans are available free on 116 123, day or night.
Clive Bonny is a management consultant and business advisor of 36 years, specialising in responsible business standards, intellectual property protection and ethical, outcome-driven leadership. He's also a health advocate who lives with atrial fibrillation and is a prostate cancer survivor — and in this episode, business and biology meet.
Clive and host Adam Walker discover how much they share: both live with AF, both lost a sibling to suicide, both were endurance athletes. That common ground makes for an unusually open conversation about what AF actually feels like, how it's diagnosed — often by accident — and why Clive calls it "sudden death syndrome": nearly a million people in the UK have it, and many don't know until it's too late. His practical message is simple: check your pulse, and if it's consistently low, ask for a test.
Clive shares his own dramatic diagnosis — a resting pulse of 30 discovered on an operating table, two weeks in intensive care, heparin, cardioversion, a pacemaker and an ablation — the same ablation procedure Adam was himself about to undergo. Both discuss life on long-term anticoagulation (DOACs) and the different level of cardiac care that followed.
The conversation ranges wider too: Clive's career innovating for Bayer and Hoechst, taking inventions through IP protection and clinical trials, robotic prostate surgery, and building social value through local volunteering.
Honest, warm and genuinely useful — two patients comparing notes in public so others don't get caught out.
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Full transcript and episode notes: https://pharmaprescribed.com/episodes
⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:00 Content warning
0:35 Intro
1:00 Meet Clive Bonny
1:30 Mission and values
3:00 Early influences
7:00 The open-minded connector
11:00 A career in pharma innovation
14:00 How the microcurrent device works
17:00 Living with atrial fibrillation
24:00 Adam's AF experience
26:00 Clive's prostate cancer story
32:00 Da Vinci robotic surgery
34:00 ESG and social value
37:00 Local volunteering wins
44:00 Life outside work
45:00 Golden rule
47:00 Closing and contact
👤 ABOUT CLIVE BONNY
Management consultant and business advisor since 1990, specialising in responsible business standards, intellectual property protection, dispute resolution and cost-efficient operational strategy. Former innovation lead for Bayer and Hoechst. Board-level governance advisor and mediator. Health advocate living with atrial fibrillation and a prostate cancer survivor.
💼 Search "Clive Bonny" on LinkedIn
https://consult-smp.com
🎙️ ABOUT PHARMA PRESCRIBED
Pharma Prescribed is the podcast where leaders, innovators and hidden voices in healthcare open up. No soundbites, no spin. Just raw insight, one prescription at a time. Hosted by biometrics consultant Adam Walker.
🌐 https://pharmaprescribed.com
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ℹ️ Nothing in this episode is medical advice. Views on treatments and devices are personal experience only — always consult a qualified clinician about your own care.
#CliveBonny #AtrialFibrillation #AFib #DOAC #Anticoagulants #ProstateCancer #PharmaPrescribed #PatientVoice #HeartHealth #MedicalDevices #ResponsibleBusiness
