Tuesday, June 17, 2008

"First, do no harm," continued!!!

Yeah, boy, this Doctor Crippen is a PRIZEWINNER. I honestly didn't think I had any more to say. But, procrastinating on -shit I actually need to do-, I went to check in, idly curious to see if Internets monikering himself after an infamous case where the doctor in question murdered his wife is his idea of, y'know, Teh Funny; or if his name really IS Doctor Crippen--after all, the first names are different--and it's just, well, a rather brilliant coincidence that this one, at minimum, also happens to be a misogynistic fuck what has -something- seriously wrong with him. Doesn't matter hugely either way, understand, just...morbidly intrigued.

But so this is his current top entry--you know, I'm just going to repost it in its entire charming glory.

http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/

We are currently running computer searches on all our patients with dementia and by this evening I will have more information as to our prescribing habits. As a prequel though, just a short mention of the sanctimonious hypocrisy exhibited by so many heart-on-sleeve relatives of demented patients. Take a look at the discussion forum on the Help the Aged website. In particular look at this letter from a “caring relative” who styles herself as "pinkslippers".

I hope someone can give me some reassurance about this drug. Mum lives in an emi home for the past 18months. The home has complained that she is difficult with the staff over her personal care. She has always been very anti- interference from strangers. She was prescribed quetiapine 25mg which I understand is quite a low dose but three weeks ago it was increased to 50mg because of increasing agitation and refusing to co-operate.

Now I have noticed she has become physically much weaker and is always slumped in an armchair asleep whereas before she was quite strong and fiesty.

It is very worrying when you read reports of these drugs on the internet but also you feel at the mercy of the doctors and the care home. They think I am always fussing about Mum’s medication but to my mind they want all the patients as quiet and comatose as possible as it saves on staffing .

Thanks for any comments


Pinkslippers

Help the Aged



Now some hard facts, pinkslippers. The reason you mother has been potted in an EMI unit is because you were not prepared to have her in your house and look after her yourself. Was it when she started caking excrement around the walls of the kitchen that you gave up? Or was it when she kept pissing in the fireplace? Or the way that she kept embarrassing you by farting all the time? God, it didn’t half smell, did it? And have you forgotten those times when you tried to change her underwear and she swore at you using language that you did not believe she knew? Well, Pinkslippers, it was bad enough for her when you tried to change her underwear. She had vague recollections as to your identity. Now it is strangers who try to change her underwear. She thinks they are molesting her, so she screams abuse and scratches them. It is very distressing for all, particularly her.

She was losing weight because she was not eating properly, do you remember? Probably not, because you only visit three times a week, and never at meal times. That sweet young auxiliary nurse, who used to sit with your mother for ages, and thought she had made friends with her, tried to feed her. You weren’t there, were you? Did they tell you what happened? Your mother threw a plateful of mince and mashed potatoes at the nurse. She missed. It hit another patient who started screaming.

And then she started wandering in the middle of the night, and tried to get into other patients' beds. You remember that, don't you? They did tell you on one of your flying visits.

Perhaps the doctors and nurses should have tied your mother down. A straitjacket and gag would have helped too. But they didn't do that. They battled on for several weeks but it was getting worse and worse. Finally, after much thought and discussion, they put her on quetiapine. They discussed it with you, do you remember? Probably not. You were just off on holiday to your house in France. A very small dose at first, then a slightly larger dose. She doesn’t scream any more. She doesn’t play with her shit any more. She doesn’t throw food any more. She is reasonably peaceful. They try to feed her but it is not easy. She is old. She is frail. She is dying. Slowly, too slowly, but she is dying.

Is quetiapine the perfect drug? Hell, no. It’s awful. And don't you hate the name? So close to Quiet-apine. What was the drug company thinking of? Is it better than the older drugs? Hell, no, it’s just new. And very expensive. In a few more years we will discover it has some horrible side effects and then we will all change to the latest anti-psychotic. Big Pharma is working on it now. It will be even more expensive.

Is this perfect medical management? God knows, but can you suggest anything better?

It’s distressing, isn’t it, Pinkslippers? I have an idea. Take a look round the EMI unit. How many elderly Indian and Pakistani patients are there in there? What's that you say? None? Heavens, I wonder why that is, Pinkslippers? I tell you what, why don’t you give up work and take your mother home and look after her yourself?

What’s that you say? Couldn’t manage? Too distressing? Too much of a strain? Ah! I see. In that case, maybe you should shut up.



*****

You know. For -some reason-, I don't feel compelled to bare my throat with all the gory details of -why- this post infuriated me quite as much as it did this merry morning. Let's just say that pinkslippers' story rings some bells, and if the relative currently responsible for the relative who has dementia were to hear "advice" like this?

--Well. I -was- going to say, it wouldn't do any fucking good at all. But actually, reconsidering, knowing her character, at least, it -might- lead the woman in question to justifiable homicide, and that, I am thinking, could only be a blessing.

-Yeah-, asshole, why doesn't she -give up work- and -look after her herself-?

And, what the rancid FUCK is the business about "Indian and Pakistani" patients? What -are- you trying to say, dear? I...no. Can't even fisk this today; cannot do.

Just: Seriously, who IS this festering cock?

All I can say is that I hope he really only plays a "doctor" on the Internets, because if he's for real? Is there a better advertisement for -avoiding- doctors, anywhere, particularly in the UK, where he's apparently based? Especially if that -isn't- his real name?

"Yes, hi, I really -want- to be 'treated' by an arrogant, hateful, sexist, racist, sadistic motherfucker who finds random people on the Internets trying to get help--two women for two so far--drags them into the spotlight of his -rather large and well trafficked- blog, and proceeds to mock and abuse the crap out of them for the delectation and/or delightfully outraged reactions of his commentators.

What. The FUCK.

39 comments:

SunflowerP said...

What he had to say to "pinkslippers" strongly reinforces my suspicion that he holds no medical degrees. It's not quite as obvious as, say, someone passing themselves off as a psychiatrist talking about "loony bins", but it's on those kind of lines - it's just not how doctors talk, even arrogant, condescending asshole doctors.

Which is not to say he has no legit claim to the title "doctor"; he certainly proves his ability to Pile Higher and Deeper every time he opens his browser.

Sunflower

Debi Crow said...

Hi

I thought it actually wasn't possible for me to be any more angry than I already was with this piece of shit, but that's done it - I couldn't even read the whole of your quote from him because I thought my head was going to explode.

I agree with sunflowerp, and have long held a suspicion that he is not a real doctor, or perhaps that he *was* a doctor but is not anymore for some reason, ie dare I say it he may have been struck off for some reason? Hence the godly attitude with none of the responsibility, sensitivity, intelligence etc you would hope for in an actual doctor.

With the whole rape thing, I've said it several times, he's protesting far too much - why keep going on about it? I moved on weeks ago, but he just can't let it go can he? Which actually is only serving to make him look quite suspicious, I mean the more someone protests innocence the more guilty they sound. As someone said on my blog, he's a menace to women, and should have some sort of restraining order against him.

Anyway, thanks for posting this, and for your last post about it, which actually really made me laugh for the first time in a good while - you're doing a good job.

Debs

Trinity said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Trinity said...

"With the whole rape thing, I've said it several times, he's protesting far too much - why keep going on about it? I moved on weeks ago, but he just can't let it go can he?"

Yes. THIS.

And why does he keep poking his nose in the medical care of people he's never even met? WHAT IS THAT ABOUT?

belledame222 said...

Debi: no problem, my, well, not pleasure exactly, but I was certainly motivated, let's put it that way.

And yeah, I hope like hell he's not a real doctor. It's depressing enough that he's got all these kudos in the sidebar from various newspapers and so on.

I mean, paging through some of the other entries, I can see why he's Internets-popular, at least, I guess; he does seem to write about actual important politics-of-medical issues in a (as far as I can tell) knowledgeable sort of way; it's just, you know, utter and complete raving fuckhead. (sexist, racist, abusive, condescending, etc. etc. etc.)

Even the idea that he has something to do with policy is depressing, although I'd feel better knowing he's not actually inflicting his bedside manner on any patients.

belledame222 said...

And why does he keep poking his nose in the medical care of people he's never even met? WHAT IS THAT ABOUT?

"The child ain't right."

Unknown said...

I find it very difficult to believe that this fuckwad is a doctor, currently at least.

belledame222 said...

Or, well, you know; "Dr. Laura" was a doctor, too, in that she had a doctorate; it's just that it was in, what, phys ed.?

Thing is, again, this one seems to be at least relatively Internets famous, taken as some kind of Authority by...some people? which could mean exactly nothing, but I mean...

maybe he's some sort of bureaucratic flunkie with the NHS or something, and his "Doctorate" is in, like, Fuckwittery.

trouble is, every time I go start to see if he has a bio or something, I get caught up by yet another example of his giant choadness. i.e.

An angry reader draws my attention to the following excerpt from a
paper written by an Australian psychiatrist about marital problems
experienced by doctors. The reader, who is not an NHS BLOG DOCTOR fan,
clearly derived great pleasure from the quotation. Sadly he spoilt his
point by not referring to its context but it still makes for
interesting reading.

>>Narcissistic personality
One variation of the preceding marital constellation emphasises
the doctor’s narcissistic rather than obsessional personality
characteristics. Often, (though not invariably), the doctor is a male,
who, from childhood, was deemed by his family to be special...>>

...Does the cap fit? Should we be wearing it? Or this phenomenon
peculiar to Australia? It's different down there. Which reminds me of an old joke. A young man is walking down Bondi Beach when he sees a very attractive young blonde, sunbathing topless. He goes up to her and says, "G'day, Sheila, fancy a shag?" She looks at him and replies, "Well, I didn't, but you've won me over you smooth talking bastard."

The old ones are always the best.


So, basically, he's Milton Berle on top of everything else.

belledame222 said...

On the other hand, maybe this dude really is a doc and is just letting it all hang out because he feels anonymous?

That's what I'm wondering.

And, can I just say -one- more time, if that's the case: he picks the handle DOCTOR CRIPPEN??

thene said...

And, what the rancid FUCK is the business about "Indian and Pakistani" patients? What -are- you trying to say, dear? I...no. Can't even fisk this today; cannot do.

My weak understanding is that he's describing an entirely real social difference in the UK: British Asians tend to look after their own old folk rather than institutionalising them. Doubtless some of this is connected to poverty - in general they tend to be less well-to-do than whitefolk and also to have more children to care for (whitefolk currently average about 1.8, Pakistani folk 3.9 and Bangladeshi folk 4.6, iirc). And because of family size and for the cultural reasons underlying that, they're more likely to have a woman living at home. (Here the good doctor is aping the other whitefolk on the UK's loony right: WHY can't white women be more like brown women?! All PIOUS and NICE and NURTURING and stuff! Look, it's racism AND sexism in one neat bag!)

There also allegedly a cultural taboo against giving your elders into the care of strangers rather than keeping them in the extended family. Traditional families in India itself tend to have three generations under one roof - two grandparents, their son, his wife and their children. (Hence why having only daughters is seen as a bad thing, and India's gender gap is so severe that pre-birth gender screening is banned...not that that's enforced. It's a real fear that's inherent in the traditional model; that your daughters will marry and leave and no one will care for you when you're old).

I've seen British Muslims on TV (such a reliable and unbiased medium) declaiming the whitefolks' practice of institutionalising the old as being revolting. I guess there genuinely are two different ways of living at work there, each broken and wrong in their own ways. Hardly exonerates DrCrippen - I think he is aware of half of the picture, but is totally willfully blind about the other half. Or maybe three-quarters. Or 99.9%, round about there.

belledame222 said...

Yeah, I mean, actually, I did figure there were cultural differences he was alluding to there; thing is, it's hardly going to help fucking -anything- to yell at this poor woman and imply that she's no good unless she give up her life to take care of her relative, which she damn well may not be physically or emotionally or financially capable of doing anyway. (Where the hell is he getting this "house in the South of France" bullshit?)

Because, see, the thing about cultural differences is, I am -guessing- that such approaches also depend on having an extended family, or rather a tradition of relying on one; which, even if one quits one's job (assuming one is even -able- to do such a thing), one really can't magically conjure up out of the blue?

Fuck, my mother can't even get her own brother out for a visit for a couple of days without sturm und drang ("I have a life"). She has no extended network there. She's already pretty much doing it on her own, and it's -already- a fuck of a lot of work. And she isn't physically capable of attending to my grandmother, mentally either as far as that goes: contrary to what fuckhead there may believe, no, the family touch is not always best. My mother loses her patience and screams at my grandmother even as it is; she doesn't have the training or -strength- to take care of her physical needs, knows perfectly well she's not capable; and that's -without- the ancient familial strain bubbling to a head with the crisis. As she put it herself, she'd lose her mind. She sounds like she's sliding into depression as it is, frankly.

And, hi, as it happens, she's retired just now, but she STILL can't be in the house 24/7 to keep an eye on her.

But, gee, no, I mean, I'm sure it -never occurred to her- that she's a Bad Daughter for not sacrificing even -more- of her own shit to take care of her mother (as she's been laid on to do her whole life anyway, more or less, and guess who she ends up passing that down to, emotionally, anyway), I mean, I'm sure that exactly what she needs right now is -more guilt-, because Portnoy's Complaint Embodied (i.e. that entire side of the family) never laid on any of those trips -already-, christ no. Or that having all the miserable details of just how bad it's been and how much worse it might get; fuck no, I mean, that's -exactly- what one -needs- to hear.

I mean, clearly the fact that "pink slippers" is at least concerned about the medication her mother's on and is trying to act as her advocate means, unlike this assclown, she just doesn't give a shit, amirite?

stupid, stupid, evil fuck.

And you know, I really wonder if fuckhead here would've said the "quit your job" shit to a man who asked that question? And, let me guess -exactly- how much of that self-sacrifice he's been doing his own damn self.

And that is rhetorical; quite honestly, even if he -has- done the caretaking gig, if -I- were entrusted to his tender loving care? if -this- is his bedside manner? I'd take the kindness of strangers in a heartbeat. Half a heartbeat.

Here the good doctor is aping the other whitefolk on the UK's loony right: WHY can't white women be more like brown women?! All PIOUS and NICE and NURTURING and stuff! Look, it's racism AND sexism in one neat bag!)

And there is that, yes. We're on the same page, obviously. Just...more sput sput sput. I cannot BELIEVE this 'bag.

Anonymous said...

I'm just going to keep reminding myself of something I've learned in recent times through my job: If someone insists on mentioning over and over that they're a doctor, they're an orthodontist, tops.

Because this guy creeps the hell out of me.

belledame222 said...

Like I said in the other post: at -minimum-, I've never met someone who unironically* insisted on being called "Dr." something outside of a professional capacity (*obviously, someone like Dr. Brazen Hussy would be an exception) who -wasn't- a total douchebag.

queen emily said...

Such a prat. And, like he said on Uncool, he just really wants reasonable discussion. Of course, he defines that as "making up a bunch of accusations," that France thing, wtf?

*pointless aside* I use Dr on forms as often as I can, cos it's a gender neutral title and some institutions are really weird about you using "Ms" if they've decided you're not. And if somebody's being intentionally rude and calling me mister, I very snootily say "that's *Doctor* actually." Whether I'm a douchebag, well, up to you innit.

regards,
Dr Em Bunny

belledame222 said...

On forms, yeah, okay. I am talking about, y'know, on the blog, signing -all- letters (formal and otherwise), when sticking out one's hand to be introduced, and getting -very pissy- if someone forgets the honorific (yes, I have witnessed this). Just basically in situations where -no one asked for any title, really.-

belledame222 said...

(-the- Doctor, obviously, is exempt from this also)

belledame222 said...

...you know, the more I look at that excretion of a post, the more bizarro it is. I mean, even if it -is- supposed to be some sort of argument that she should be taking care of her mother, um...not a real convincing argument when he goes into such vivid detail about how -hard- it is to put up with this hypothetical woman with dementia (p.s. asshat, not everyone gets aggressive with it, you know?) that the nursing home staff has -no choice- but to give her this drug.

The only way it makes sense is that he's snapping at her for DARING to criticize the poor overworked medical staff for having to deal with her drain-on-society of a mother. Because clearly, one woman doing it all by herself would just be so much better, amirite? Or, no: but at least she'd be doing her daughterly duty and leaving the Big Important Medicos to do -important- shit, like delivering babies and snotting at the mothers whenever they dare to complain about any piss-poor treatment by any particular Professional Medical Person(s).

Yeah, ruminate on that for a second.

1) On the one hand, he sneers at the idea of midwives and DIY home births, wacky feminist crap, leave it to the professionals;

2) otoh, taking care of an aging relative with dementia, a 24/7 job quite possibly for years and years, well, that belongs at home innit?

3) did i mention the part about "die in a fire, asshole?"

queen emily said...

Oh, right. Yeah, it doesn't usually come up in conversation. Except when Suzan calls me Dr Em Bunny, cos that's funny, a rabbit with a doctorate.

And obviously, -the- Doctor, that's different.

Imagine, the Doctor's saving your life and he's like "I'm the Doctor. But call me Dave." Wouldn't work.

queen emily said...

>>>1) On the one hand, he sneers at the idea of midwives and DIY home births, wacky feminist crap, leave it to the professionals;

2) otoh, taking care of an aging relative with dementia, a 24/7 job quite possibly for years and years, well, that belongs at home innit?

Indeed. Captain Rational is Rational. I think the answer is, always, STFU womenz. The question is a bit irrelevant.

Trinity said...

"1) On the one hand, he sneers at the idea of midwives and DIY home births, wacky feminist crap, leave it to the professionals;

2) otoh, taking care of an aging relative with dementia, a 24/7 job quite possibly for years and years, well, that belongs at home innit?"

Jerky Doc is jerky.

Anonymous said...

He's a Brit? "Show me who to smite, and they shall be smoten!" Seriously, tell me where he lives and I'll go get 'im for you!

I know only too well how disconcerting it can be to see a loved one given heavy doses of psych meds (although for a different reason), so the question is a reasonable one, and even if a genuine advisor answered supporting the approach of the medical professionals at the EMI unit, there's this thing called "bedside manner" which helps the worried person cope better with the distressing circumstance.

This guy just likes cruelty. If he's a real doctor, I can imagine something like this:

[Mother turns up with a poorly child]

Dr.C: Why did you bring your pathetic little runt to me? You've been negligent in letting it get infected with God knows what, and now you expect me to fix it for you? You're just a bad parent who doesn't know how to look after a kid properly - I bet you didn't even teach it to wash its hands after using the toilet, did you?...

and so on and so forth.

Grr, he makes me sick!

Trinity said...

"This guy just likes cruelty. If he's a real doctor, I can imagine something like this:

[Mother turns up with a poorly child]

Dr.C: Why did you bring your pathetic little runt to me? You've been negligent in letting it get infected with God knows what, and now you expect me to fix it for you? You're just a bad parent who doesn't know how to look after a kid properly - I bet you didn't even teach it to wash its hands after using the toilet, did you?..."

Yes, exactly.

IF A PATIENT DID IT OR WANTS TO DO IT, AND I DIDN'T THINK OF IT FIRST, IT'S WRONG.

belledame222 said...

SDE: here's his blog; if you can work it out from info there, let us know. I keep getting sidetracked and then drowning in puddles of vomit every time I go over there, but...


http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/

belledame222 said...

um. wow.

http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/2006/01/bit-of-cock-up-in-breast-department.html

David, a great friend of mine, has just left his job in histopathology at the age of 49. Having been doing the job for 26 years he had probably looked at and reported over half a million slides. Two years ago he correctly reported a prostate biopsy as showing cancer.


Histopathology of the prostate gland


The surgeon acted on the report and removed the patient’s prostate. David reported the slide correctly but it was the wrong slide. It had been mis-labelled by one of the technicians. David did not notice. He is in charge of the department. He was therefore responsible. He took the responsibility, and admitted the mistake. His defence organisation paid an agreed amount of damages to the patient who had had the unnecessary surgery.

I do not condone the mistake. Nor does David. Now he has left medicine completely, not because of the mistake, but for other reasons. He was one of the most talented and outstanding histo-pathologists in the country. Is he missing the job? I asked. No, not at all. It is only now that he is out of medicine and relaxed that he realise how much pressure he was under; how badly he was treated by the NHS and by the government. More and more pressure was put on him by the government to increase throughput of the department whilst at the same time they reduced his staffing levels.

Years of excellent work are ignored but let there be one mistake and there is no support from the hospital. No quarter is given by management or by the media.

There are headlines today about the alleged misreporting of some mammograms in Manchester. A doctor has been suspended. The facts have yet to emerge but it seems that there has been a significant number of mistakes. Maybe there was too much pressure. Maybe the doctor cracked-up. The facts will emerge and, of course, whatever the mitigation, it should not happen.

Nonetheless, when did you last see in the paper a headline saying:

“British Breast Radiologists doing a wonderful job: last year they reported over two million mammograms with an error rate of less than 0.001 percent.”

You did not. But they did.


***

I mean, I am sure this is all great comfort to the guy who was unnecessarily operated on, you know. especially the cutesy joke about it to top it all off.

belledame222 said...

...yep, see, Consistent Rational Man Is Fuckwit:

http://nhsblogdoc.blogspot.com/2007/04/negligence-is-not-really-issue-for-us.html

Hewitt is determined that it shall be every pregnant woman’s right to have a home delivery. It is portrayed as a matter of “choice” but soon there may not be any choice. So many maternity units are being closed that there will be no alternative other than to have a home delivery.

A “right” to a home delivery is as safe and as sensible as giving parents the “right” to insist that their children have their tonsils out at home on the kitchen table. That is the natural way to do it. That is what doctors used to do a hundred years ago, so why not now?

The independent madwives are ecstatic.

There is not a single insurance company in the country that is prepared to cover independent madwives to do home deliveries. So what do the madwives do?

They work without insurance.

Private midwives have been working without indemnity insurance since 2002, when the last company willing to provide cover pulled out. Despite this, their numbers have grown from about 40 in 2002 to 200 at present, with up to 4,000 babies a year delivered privately. (The Times)

The madwives thus show the same disregard to safety as people who drive cars without insurance. Car drivers can go to jail for driving without insurance. Soon, the madwives may follow.

***

Okay, so, but, like, if pinkslippers takes her mom home, and, you know, while trying to turn her over or move her from one room to another, drops her and causes her to break her hip, that's totally fine, right?

plonker. EPIC plonker. may he shite hedgehogs.

Trinity said...

Belle: Um. I'm... not touching that one with a twelve-foot pole greased in Repel-O-Juice.

Trinity said...

The operation one, I meant.

Though come to think of it, I'm not touching the "madwives" one either.

belledame222 said...

um.

http://www.mentalnurse.org.uk/2007/12/30/the-death-of-dr-crippen/

As regular readers of this blog and of blogs in general will know, Dr Crippen aka NHS Blog doctor is missing in action possibly dead. To judge by the emotive reaction of some commentators on the comments thread of his last post some feel personally distressed by the admittedly rather poor jest played by the self proclaimed troll posing as Dr P who reported the untimely demise of the good Doctor.

Setting aside the motives of the blogger posing as Dr P which I agree were mean spirited and spiteful. I think that nevertheless he (or she) did make at least one valid point. None of us know who Dr Crippen is, none of us have met him and none of us know whether he is a good or a bad person. We don’t even know if he is one person or many, whether he is male or female or even a Doctor or a journalist posing as a Doctor. The person or persons, for there is surely someone behind the persona that is Dr Crippen, may be for all we know a paedophile child murdering drug dealer and the reason why he/she has stopped blogging because he/she has been put behind bars in a South American hell hole for dealing heroin cut with rat poison to pregnant mothers. We don’t know. Personally I wish the person or people behind the entity that was/is Dr Crippen well in whatever he/she or they are now doing, but I don’t know them so I shan’t miss them only the blog that he/she/they wrote.

When our self confessed troll announced the death of the good doctor I found the emotive reaction of some readers strange as though the good doctor was known to them personally and the announcement of his death an attack on them. But as the troll himself explained,

To anyone pointing out what a callous bastard I am, please remember this is the internet, we are not talking about real people - I have not hurt Dr.Crippen’s friends and family because they do not know who he (or she) is. All I have (hopefully) done is pissed off a bunch of people who take the web way too seriously

Some, Devils Kitchen and Wat Tyler claim know Dr Crippen in reality, but I only know them through the blogs they write so I don’t know them either and I find the idea of one blog knowing and having some sort of a realtionship with another blog strange. Perhaps Wat, the Devil and Dr C are one and the same. A holy trinity of the blog world perhaps?

Viewing Dr Crippen as Gods anointed may explain the reaction of some to his untimely demise. My point is this. Dr Crippen is NHS blog doctor and NHS blog doctor only exists, in as far as anything can be said to exist on the web, as an idea. I can no more morn for the death of Dr Crippen than I can mourn for the death of an ideal like justice or freedom or for someone who only really existed in the public imagination as an ideal, like Lady Diana.

So to those who morn the passing of Dr Crippen, get over it, it was only a blog and there are plenty more out there that are just as good to read. This one for instance

Dr Crippen is dead, long live Dr Crippen.

This entry was written by E, posted on December 30, 2007 at 4:01 pm,


Six months ago, and apparently whoever/whatever the entity is is back, is all we know.

I'll get the pointy stakes if y'all want to spring for the garlic and the white roses.

belledame222 said...

ah.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/528128

"Greetings, Comrades, and good news from the health commissariat!" So begins another dispatch from the front lines of Britain's National Health Service (NHS). A cheerful portrait of Stalin accompanies the post, which goes on to describe the latest bureaucratic absurdity: a waiting list to get onto the waiting list for an MRI scan.

The author of these wicked parodies goes by the pen name Dr. John Crippen, and his Web-log is called NHS Blog Doctor. He's a frustrated general practitioner who, after years of lambasting the NHS, decided lampooning could work better. And he may be right: Since discovering blogs late last year and starting one of his own, Dr. Crippen has seen his site explode in traffic and influence, with posts excerpted across the blogosphere and in newspapers...


Once again, it would appear that I Missed The Funny Part.

belledame222 said...

Now he has a follow-up where he almost sounds sort of sane and reasonable and is all like, "twatty? what, me, twatty? why's everyone so angry, anyway? It was just a hypothetical example, but none of you knew what to do about it..."

Hint, fuckwad: if you have a "hypothetical" scenario in mind then don't address a real person's real situation as though it were the same as your "hypothetical."

oh, yeah, and also: may you still shite hedgehogs.

this is all beginning to sound depressingly familiar, though. the "beloved" Dr. Crippen, Internets Famous, telling truth and making people laugh, but no one knows who he really is, lighten up y'all, it's -satire-... ..*koffTwistykoff*

Anonymous said...

how badly he was treated by the NHS and by the government. More and more pressure was put on him by the government to increase throughput of the department whilst at the same time they reduced his staffing levels.

Well, this I can kind of sympathise and agree with. The health provision in this country (if you can't afford private health insurance) has been very poorly treated by successive governments for the past 20-odd years in the name of "efficiency" (i.e. making it cheaper for the Government to run). But the whining about how it affects the poor doctors is kind of beside the point - it's the patients (like the one who had unnecessary surgery) who suffer the consequences most.

belledame222 said...

and, you know, I'm sure none of his tsuris whatsoever had to do with staff and/or patient complaints about him behaving like a royal douchebag, because that simply wouldn't happen, right? Sadly, that's not a rhetorical question.

Daisy said...

and none of us know whether he is a good or a bad person.

Really? They don't know?

Belle, this sentence explains everything. Really.

andi said...

this jackass is why I don't go to the dr, and why I have a DNR for Everything, I simply have run into too many with his attitude and don't want to be treated by them. Please tell me he does not get to decide who lives and who gets to become an organ donor.

Anonymous said...

The doctor doth protest too much.

Anonymous said...

Er.. well I'm a Dr in the UK (also a young FTM so not really like Dr Crippen in lots of respects..)

Occassionally when you're a Doctor or just a person things frustrate you - and you have to calm yourself down.

I think he just posts to his blog the things that bemuse or frustate him. And then goes out to be perfectly nice to patients.

F'instance when I am bleeped over nothing at all by a nurse when I'm really busy I could loose my temper. For instance a few years ago I was bleeped by a nurse who wanted me to put a line in someone's neck arm when he had a perfectly good line in his neck. It was just that she hadn't seen a neck line before - so wasn't confident to use it.

I could have shouted at her, but I just signed, saw it from her point of view, recognised she was inexperienced and went and told her about neck lines.

I expect Dr Crippen would have done the same thing - but then posted a long ranty blog about how nurses are incompetent. And offended numerous nurses.

I think he just uses his blog for an outlet for the frustrations of life.

Re the pinkslippers saga.

There's a generation of middle class white people in the UK who aren't able to provide the level of support for their parents that other people are.

Perhaps they're from smaller famlies so there are less siblings to help out. Perhaps they're familiy financies are so tight that both parents need to stay in their high paid job, so they can't take time of to drive their parents to hospital appointments. Perhaps they don't get along with their parents, or perhaps they had children later in life so they would have to take care of a 3 year old and an 83 year old.

In general many poorer famlies in the UK are closer to their parents, better off people are more likely to move for work. So aren't able to help their pareants as much.

Or perhaps they've got the idea that they've paid plenty of taxes, so they don't have to look after their relatives.

They are more likely to have to put their relatives into residential care.

Asian and Pakistani famlies are in general more likely to be larger, and tend to place a very high importance on looking after their elderly relatives.

White middle class people are also more likely to question medical care.

Also they are more likley to request social care - which is done Dr's often.

So sometimes, when you are annoyed you find yourself thinking 'If you're so concerned why don't you look after them yourself, instead of leaving it to us?'

Then I take a deep breath, see things from their point of view, and explain everything clearly.

Anonymous said...

The reason I don't question it is that I know when my relatives are ill I won't be able to afford to give up work to look after them. And I will be a nightmare and question all medical care.

belledame222 said...

hey, welcome, Doctor Z.

per Crippen: venting and even Bad Thoughts Expressed Safely On The Internets I get; what is seriously not okay--well, one thing-- is that he seizes on random comments from actual people on the Internet looking for advice and uses them as his "hypothetical" example. Except they aren't hypothetical; they're actual people, and they can read what he wrote.

The post that started all this was when he decided to insist to/about another woman that she can't call her own experience really rape, really, and sending a raft of even more obnoxious commenters onto her blog in the process, effectively shutting her up/down.

That, and, well, honestly, his off the cuff comments just reveal a breathtaking amount of ingrained sexism and general assholery. Sure, I expect he can put on his Professional Face (one bloody well hopes so, anyway), but really, I am...skeptical of the whole "oh, so and so is a sweetie in person." I mean, yeah, I'm an Internets Asshole too, but you know, I at least cop to my Internet persona not actually being totally divorced from my "real" personality.

I think this guy's clearly a shit. And if I knew who he was, there's no way in hell I'd go to him as my doctor.

This is not me impugning the entire medical establishment or his colleagues who are -not- total assholes. And I gather he has a lot of fans online fir various reasons.

I still think he's a feckin' asshole. Sorry.

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