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It helps if the doctor actually looks at the X-ray

James Hughes-Onslow

Wednesday, 16th January 2008

James Hughes-Onslow reports on the wretchedness of breaking an ankle and then having to persuade the man in A&E that his agony was caused by more than a sprain

Now, here follows the funny part. A letter arrived from the hospital asking whether I was suffering from trauma as a result of my motorcycle accident. ‘Accidents or assaults can be very upsetting experiences,’ wrote Inga Boellinghaus and Emma Briddon, research psychologists at King’s, inviting me to volunteer in their research study and offering me £60 in travel expenses. ‘Many people find it hard to come to terms with their accident/assault and develop long-lasting psychological distress.’ They were not offering treatment for my trauma, they emphasised, only inviting me to take part in their research study, which involved interviews over several weeks. This is what Brixton police often do, I have found, rather than chasing criminals.

I had to fill in a form, saying whether I would co-operate with their investigations. I said by all means, but it was a very minor incident and I had got over it. Then I received a telephone call, asking me to describe the stress I had endured. Surely I had some issues with the other parties involved in the incident. I said no, on the contrary, everyone at the scene outside the Ritzy had been extremely kind and generous with their sympathy and their time. I was quite overwhelmed by their concern. Then I recalled that the only aggravation I had experienced was at the hands of the doctor who told me I had not broken my ankle, only sprained it, having failed to look at my X-ray. I began to develop my theme, saying that I thought he was stupid, inexperienced and idle. There was a silence on the end of the line as I suggested this was something they might like to investigate. They said no, this was not their problem and that if I had any complaints, I should make them through the usual channels. Oh for that nice hospital in Grenoble. In the meantime, as I scooter around London, one or two admirers have said they like my fashionable plastic boots, not realising it’s a solitary boot on one foot only.

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Joanne

January 17th, 2008 8:35pm

This is another horror story about Britain's NHS to add to my stock of anecdotes. As I read it, I felt my own glasses beginning to steam up. But I have to remind you that, in the non-national health system here in the USA, horror stories also abound. We hear or experience incidences of sloppy, uncaring doctors spending about 5 minutes with their patients (after a two-hour wait), or of people not getting the coverage they needed at all, even when they're insured. Believe me, a totally private system is not the answer. I think that it's Canada's system that most Americans envy.

Lydia P Troyer

January 18th, 2008 11:47pm

Only the return of the ferocity of 19th Cent Penal laws and Parish Poor House rules will return this country to anything better than Hobbes' "short, brutish & dull" lifestyle. Those who will have no respect for the law must be be made to fear the law; otherwise we have a 3rd world economy with revolving juntas at the top, as people fend for themselves and who you know is more useful than what you know. A return of the right to bear arms would be useful, too. An armed society is necessarily a polite society, except where bad governments interfere and grant monopolies to favoured groups, like law enforcement & criminals, while leaving the populace empty-handed. I remember thinking in the 70's that we're going to regret the retirement of all those rudely fierce & starched ward sisters from the war years.

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