The University Doctor Smellie
The GP at Liverpool University in C’s and my time there was a Doctor Smellie. He was one of the better GPs I’ve had and I’ve been lucky to have at least two good ones.
When C became pregnant with our first child, she went to see him and he suggested she have a home birth. Not something that she was thinking of and she wnt to Oxford Street Maternity Hospital instead.
If you research the name Smellie amongst doctors you’ll find an interesting history, including a William Smellie, who is sometimes called the father of British midwifery. So perhaps the good Dr. Smellie was just wanting to follow the family tradition.
Doctors Catch Bob Crow Syndrome
I like this use of words in a leader in The Times today.
I would define Bob Crow syndrome, as being unwilling to give up salaries and pensions, that are way above what similar groups of employees are getting.
The leader does praise British Airways pilots, who graciously took a pay cut rather than see their jobs disappear.
American Celebrity Chef Gets Diabetes
American celebrity city, Paula Deen, has just announced she has diabetes, like 26,000,000 other Americans. Apparently, her signature dish is a hamburger in between a doughnut. Enough said! And very gluten-rich too!
But she has got a deal to endorse a diabetes drug.
The United States is eating itself to being a has-been power. And helped by her recipes! She should be kept away from the media for ever, as she is probably doing as much damage to the population of the United States as your average terrorist.
In a few years time, they won’t be able to find enough fit people to play any serious sport or join the army.
Has Anybody Looked at the Harlery Medical Group Website?
You wouldn’t think this was the website of a ompany with a bit of a problem and especially as the site is still advertising for new punters.
One interesting thing is that typing Harley Medical Group into Google, the first entry you find is a firm of solicitors.
I also found this article on the Daily Mail’s website. So was the head of the firm advising how to smarten up NuLabor’s image? Probably not, but it just shows how high-profile Harley Medical Group was.
But not in the same way as now!
It Isn’t Just the PIP Implants To Blame
The third leader in The Times yesterday was a reasoned one on the scandal of the PIP implants.
It started by saying that those hospitals and clinics that fitted them should rectify the problem. It also said that the NHS and eight cosmetic surgery groups would replace the implants without charge.
The leader then said this.
But even in this mire, one private clinic stands out for the audacity with which it is abdicating its responsibility to its patients. The Harley Medical Group, which was responsible for fitting PIP implants to almost 14,000 of the 40,000 British women who received them, is refusing to replace the now banned implants without further charge. Doing so, it says, would put it out of business.
But what is Harley doing? Absolutely nothing except protesting it wasn’t their fault, but one of the regulatory authorities. I should say, that I’ve heard of the Harley Medical Group, as has everybody who uses escalators on the London Underground. I should say, that their adverts haven’t been there for some months.
It would be interesting to see a report on finances of the Harley Medical Group, by a reputable forensic accountant.
As an aside here, according to a doctor on BBC Breakfast, a proper breast implant costs £16,000. So if Harley fitted implants to 14,000 women, that works out at £448 million pounds to sort out the problem. The Times has a lesser figure of £40 million, bt also states that Harley only made a small profit last year.
So why should the NHS and ultimately the taxpayer pay for the patient’s vanity? And stupidity for going to Harley?
It’s All James Bond’s Fault
According to this article on the BBC’s web site, the general distrust of nuclear power is all down to James Bond. Here’s the first two paragraphs.
The evil villains in James Bond movies are being blamed for casting a long-lasting shadow over the image of nuclear power, says the president of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Prof David Phillips says that Dr No, with his personal nuclear reactor, helped to create a “remorselessly grim” reputation for atomic energy.
I won’t argue with the President of the Royal Society of CHemistry, but I will add a little story of my own.
In the 1960s, I worked on NMR spectroscopy or to give it its full name nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The technique is summed up as.
Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, most commonly known as NMR spectroscopy, is a research technique that exploits the magnetic properties of certain atomic nuclei to determine physical and chemical properties of atoms or the molecules in which they are contained. It relies on the phenomenon of nuclear magnetic resonance and can provide detailed information about the structure, dynamics, reaction state, and chemical environment of molecules.
One of the guys I worked with at the time, Eddie Clayton, predicted that the technique would be used instead of X-rays in the future. We didn’t think he was right, but now of course nuclear magnetic resonance imaging is commonplace, with most hospitals having a scanner.
However because of peoples’ fears of anything nuclear, the nuclear has been dropped and it is referred to as MRi.
Lose Weight Or You Don’t Get the Operation
There has been a piece on the BBC about how doctors in Hertfordshire are saying overweight patients should lose weight before operations. Here’a more from an article in the St. Albans Review.
Overweight patients have been told to shift excess pounds before they are allowed operations such as hip and knee replacement, tonsil removal or gall bladder surgery.
It is hoped the new policy will result in patients being in a better state to recover following non-urgent procedures.
One doctor has recently told me, that obesity will bankrupt the NHS.
So I am all in favour of the policy of the doctors in Hertfordshire being replicated elsewhere.
A Quick Calculation
A doctor has just said that each faulty breast implant replacement will cost about £16,000
If there are 40,000 faulty implants in the UK, that works out at £640 million
My wife died of a rare cancer and that money spent on cancer research would help a lot more people and not just the vain and the stupid!
If you feel strongly about this, there’s an e-petition on the government’s web site.
Vinny Jones Shows He’s All Heart
Vinny Jones has got involved in publicity for the British Heart Foundation. The details and a video are here.
It should be remembered that his wife, Tanya, has had a heart transplant and I think he’s done work for the BHF before.
I actually think the whole concept of the video is rather good, as it’s very simply put together and you remember his message.
It Appears There’s No Breast Implant Database
For every car my father owned, he kept a book in which he wrote all the service details and modifications he made. He was typical of many in the 1950s and 1960s, who looked after all details of their cars.
Nowadays we don’t do that, but if you buy a vehicle these days and have it serviced properly, everything is recorded on a computer database. And when you buy a second hand car, you can usually have access to this data to check, you’re not buying a ringer.
According to a letter in The Times today from the president of the Royal College of Surgeons, there is no such requirement for comprehensive details to be kept on breast implants and other cosmetic surgical procedures. However, the letter states that for joint replacements, there is a very successful National Joint Registry, that is analysed to detect problems before they become serious.
Why is there no registry for breast implants and cosmetic surgery? Obviously, such a registry would put up the cost of the surgery! If this discouraged the vane idiots, it might not be a bad idea, but I suspect it wouldn’t as they’d just go somewhere outside of the reach of the registry.
It would appear that many of us take better care of our cars than our bodies!
The Anonymous Widower 