The man-made nature of law, both common and statute, means that it can have many if not all of the attributes of man. It can be great and just, just as it can be weak and flawed. And it can be abused – and nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the tragic case of Kerrie Wooltorton…
Author: dr-no
Normal For Norfolk
In the Good Old Days, NFN (Normal For Norfolk) was medical shorthand used to describe a patient who appeared peculiar, or odd. It now appears that NFN may apply not only to patients, but to other goings on in the good county of Norfolk.
GMC Towers: Licence on, but nobody’s at home
Further evidence has emerged that there are kangaroos loose in the General Medical Council’s top paddock.
For You, Your Career is Over
Since the General Medical Council hopped into bed with the Department of Health earlier this year, we have seen surprisingly little in the way of overt matrimonial activity. It does appear, however, that there has much foreplay going on under the duvet, and the happy couple are moving ever nearer to that orgy of wanton destruction that will soon be on us – the orgy of enhanced professional regulation for doctors.
Snuff Medicine
For some time, Dr No has been troubled by a particular aspect of the suicide of Kerrie Wooltorton. It is an aspect that has received little coverage, perhaps because it is a complex and murky area, but it is nonetheless important. It is countertransference, and how it may have influenced Wooltorton’s treatment, even to the extent that it may have contributed to her death.
Cracking Nutt
Alan “You’re Fired!” Johnson, who appears to belong to the shoot-the-bastard, simple-but-effective school of ministerial authority, is now finding that, far from cracking the Nutt, he appears to have instead shot himself in the foot, and produced an outcome that is neither simple, nor effective. Or, for a minister, desirable.
Pumpkin Positive
One of Dr No’s light-bulb moments, which occurred many years ago, was when he realised that his then world-famous professor was, as we used to say in the old days, not mazda. Lights were on, but there was nobody at home.
Dr Death
Most UK doctors are not doctors, at least not proper doctors. The primary medical qualifications available in the UK are bachelor degrees, not doctorates. The public, as a courtesy, call us Doctor, but even that goes when the provenance of the practice is from the barber-shop – and so we call our surgeons Mr or Miss.
Upsizing Down’s
To most people, screening for medical conditions is simple – a bit like taking a car for an MOT. You catch things in time, and fix them before they go seriously wrong. Often it is like that, but sometimes it is not so simple; and there are even times when screening can be bad medicine.
Word Games
ANIMATION: including dancing Botticelli Venus, which links to locum agency: medical staffing officer (CLEESE) walks into the agency carrying a dead doctor in a cage. He walks to counter where a recruitment consultant (PALIN) tries to hide below cash register.