Dear Dr Crippen,

I like your site. Violence is always wrong. It happens the other way round too though.

In July I was admitted as a patient at the Royal London Hospital. I have "unique" musculoskeletal problems. After two weeks laying in a bed with inaction I took the liberty of reading my hospital notes: something the hospital does not allow.

I was assaulted by two nursing staff who physically manhandled me to remove the notes from my possession. All I wanted to know was what was happening but the hospital rules do not allow this.

Not wanting to escalate things but knowing my position was now risky I made an off the record note of the matter with the PALS service.

Two days later I was unceremoniously kicked out of the hospital as "there is nothing we can do for you", having seen a junior orthopod who said nothing was wrong with my lumbar spine.

In december I had scans done privately. The upper part of my sacrum has collapsed up and back into my lumnbar spine. Two intervertebral discs have burst.

How about zero tolerance of violence from staff to patients? Until the table is levelled you will suffer the violence o people angered by a miserable system.

Best wishes

Matthew Jee
matthew | Homepage | 07.01.06 - 1:31 pm | #

Doc- It is completely unacceptable for the rest of us to expect you guys in the fronline to tolerate this kind of thing. Personally, I think you should withold attention from anyone who is violent or abusive. No question.

And to those who say that's too brutal, I say it's just making grown-ups responsibile for their own behaviour.

Too rightwing? Then you need to suggest an alternative policy that doesn't involve nurses and ambulence personnel getting beaten up.

How about giving our medicos some easy method of subduing violent punters. Just off the top of my head, I suggest tranquilliser darts or those taser stun guns.
Wat Tyler | Homepage | 07.01.06 - 3:04 pm | #

Oh dear.

I don't know how all that happened but leaving that aside you have AN ABSOLUTE LEGAL RIGHT TO SEE YOUR NOTES. They cannot refuse. A lot of hospital adminstrators tend to resist requests like this, and they are wrong.

The days of doctors writing notes like "This patient is stupid....etc" should have long gone.
Dr Crippen | Homepage | 07.01.06 - 3:20 pm | #

My dear Mr Tyler,

I do sometimes worry that you are writing from Communist China or maybe Victorian England. You will be wanting to birch these people next.

People who beat up ambulance men and nurses are themselves victims and need to be signed off work for long periods of time so that they can collect incapacity benefit and go on "anger management courses" which are run by men with beards
Dr Crippen | Homepage | 07.01.06 - 3:22 pm | #

Fabulous read. I have recently decided to jump on the cynical-doctor-blog bandwagon, and it's heartening (or should that be disheartening?) to see so many others all ready there. I will be bookmarking yours.

With regard to abuse - I sympathise entirely. A few clinics ago I was yelled at that I was a prick for refusing to give a man medication to cure him of his wife-beating tendencies. Lovely chap. Happens all the time, sadly. And I find that people seem to think it's excusable within the realm of psychiatry - as if it's almost expected of them.

Hey ho.
Shiny Happy Person | Homepage | 07.01.06 - 4:32 pm | #

Dr Crippen

I know that I have a legal right to see my notes and I have a human right to health (though NOT established in British Law).

The Royal London Hospital were not only medically negligent but allowed two staff to physically assault me without any disciplinary action being taken, when I out of frustration at their ineptitude was a naughty chap.

Meanwhile all the muscles from my hips to shoulders have stopped working in the back of my body and I am being left to rot. I have been under a consultant at the RNOH stanmore for over a year who decided it's all in my mind so there is no need to do scans. "your attitude must improve" before you get better, said he.

The scans also show that all the vertebrae of my cervical spine have grown the wrong shape where my neck has been twisted back on itself since I was orally and anally raped as an infant. This is why my body has deteriorated so badly: only half of it ever worked in the first place.

I showed the scans to my GP and said "look it is not all in my mind. We need some action to stop my body decaying". "I don't really understand those pictures", she said, "but I can see you are getting very distressed about it would it help to see a psychiatrist?" I nearly hit her, frankly, because this negligence and wilful lack of care has lead to me having a decrepit body of an eighty year old at age 39 and I am now highly traumatised and emotional about it.

I now recieve full disability benefits and can hardly walk. I think I may actually die of the complications soon because there has been and is to date no understanding. The consultant actually said to me "no-one will ever understand what is wrong with you Mr Jee but we won't waste money on unneccessary scans". The system now wastes over £30,000 a year subsidising my life but nothing truying to help me regain health. I have spent another £2000 on osteopathy in the last three months. My osteopath describes what he is doing as first-aid, trying to hold my body together and is unsure I will recover with or without surgery.

You can see some of the scans for yourself on my website freedomforall.net

Matthew
Matthew Jee | Homepage | 07.01.06 - 5:04 pm | #

If you want to see a police officer really angry, try hitting a nurse.

I was having a drink with a couple of friends of mine t'other night; a paramedic and a policeman (he had just found my blog actually: Copper's Blog -> Random Acts Of Reality -> NHS Blog Doctor -> Devil's Kitchen).

Both were getting mightily incensed by violence against NHS staff. My policeman friend had some amusing tales, along the following lines.

In Scotland, if there is an "incident" and the victim refuses to go to hospital, or the paramedic says that he doesn't need to go, then the polis can take 'em to the cells. And should they assault the paramedics, well... there's still no CCTV in those police vans, y'know...

DK
Devil's Kitchen | Homepage | 07.01.06 - 5:06 pm | #

Hi shiney happy person

I am trying to collect together all the british medical blogs; there are not that many of them, unlike the USA, where their are dozens.

The Brit medcial blogs I have found (I list two) are both by dishearteded junior hospital doctors.

I actually enjoy medicine enourmously, I am just pissed off to the eyeballs with goverment interference and tinkering and the gradual destruction of the NHS.

I find it is an enourmous stress releiver just to lampooo all and sundry.

But this week, one of the receptionists was really upset to be calle a c****. And she is not prude. She tells filthy jokes with the rest of us. Its context really. People should not be talked to like that.

Do let me know if you get the blog of the ground.

Have a look at Shrinkette, an American psychiatrist who has been going for a while and is really good
Dr Crippen | Homepage | 07.01.06 - 6:06 pm | #

Well, if someone is actually violent at the time, then it may be reasonable to withold care at that moment.

Anything beyond that should be dealt with by a court of law. Perhaps it would be a good idea to allow the crown courts to take away the right to free treatment on the NHS for repeated convictions for violence against NHS staff.
Marcin | Homepage | 07.01.06 - 6:08 pm | #

It is getting worse.

They should be locked up and the key thrown away.

But its an interesting moral question - should they forfeit their "right" to medical care. Or is it not a right.

Perhaps you and Wat could take turns to hang them
Dr Crippen | Homepage | 07.01.06 - 6:08 pm | #

And Matthew Jee: Have you considered, you know, contacting a solicitor? If your case is as good as you make out, then you may be able to win substantial damages, as well as giving your PCT a kick up the backside to make them take you seriously.

It really is the most heinous thing that such a situation could develop, where it looks like going to court is the most practical thing to do.
Marcin | Homepage | 07.01.06 - 6:11 pm | #

Doc - I'm not exactly one to stand side-by-side with Wat; I agree that his views are a little contextually inappropriate. However, for all my socialist instincts, I do think that there is a world of difference between administratively cutting people off from free healthcare, and a judicial measure to punish recidivists. For starters, it would not be automatic, it would require proof of many such incidents, and it would not cut those so sentenced off from healthcare, only from receiving it for free.
Marcin | Homepage | 07.01.06 - 6:15 pm | #

Dr Crippen - I know of 3 disheartened hospital doctors blog's - the two you already have links to, and the blog 'confessions of a venial sinner'.
waynetta | 07.01.06 - 6:45 pm | #

I'm covered in embarrassment - that, of course, should have read "disheartened hospital doctors' blogs".
waynetta | 07.01.06 - 7:28 pm | #

Re contacting a solicitor

a/ I don't want damages I want to ski, snowboard, dance, work for my living and take long walks as I used to.

b/ The British courts are very reluctant to order doctors to help someone.

I'm up sh#t creek until I meet a doctor wise enough to know he doesn't know everything and brave enough to look for what I have been saying for three years is wrong, then intelligent enough to work out how the h#ll to help me now things have degenerated this far.

Matthew
Matthew Jee | Homepage | 07.01.06 - 9:36 pm | #

Dr. Crippen, I'm sorry, but the behavior you have described is a direct and inevitable consequence of calling health care a "right".

Those people now believe they are entitled you your labor regardless of how they behave.

Health care is a lot of things, but it is NOT a "right".

Actually, the sooner people come to realize that, the sooner we will be on our way to solving the problem of ensuring adequate health care for everyone.

And yes, we have the same problem in the USA. I have seen it personally. I have had violent patients. Not many, mind you, but you sure do remember them, don't you? They are removed from my office, by the police if necessary. I had one arrested once. I have not needed to do so, but I would not hesitate getting a restraining order if necessary.

How do you handle the scenario of the patient collapsed on your property as you described? Simple. Resuscitate them in the usual manner, send to the hospital. We have a rota for doctors who must see "no-doctor" patients. If the person was one of the violent types who had been excluded from my practice, I would treat the acute problem, then tell the patient to find another doctor. If I were worried about personal safety, I would arrange to treat that patient in the hospital under guard.

There's a saying in the USA: "The Constitution is not a suicide pact". See the history of the phrase here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ The..._a_suicide_pact

I will extend that concept - The Hippocratic Oath is not a suicide pact.
arf | 08.01.06 - 12:44 am | #

Crippen: you have AN ABSOLUTE LEGAL RIGHT TO SEE YOUR NOTES. They cannot refuse. A lot of hospital adminstrators tend to resist requests like this, and they are wrong.

Not quite true, you have the right to request a copy of your notes. However, you must pay for this priveledge and the notes must be reviewed by a doctor first, although off the top of my head I cannot remember why.

NB I am not defending this approach, rather just clarifying the gentleman's rights.
NHS Manager | Homepage | 08.01.06 - 1:32 am | #

In the USA, I'll suspect UK s not much different in this regard, the physician review is because it may not be in the patient's interest to read the notes. This usually pertains to psychiatric issues.

Surely there has been a dispute somewhere in the USA....where a patient feels mentally fit to read the medical notes, a physician feels otherwise, and a legal battle follows. However, I have never heard about such a fight.

Most everywhere in the USA, you are allowed to charge a fee for copying the medical record. Every time I read about this, there is a disclaimer that a patient who cannot afford the fee should not be denied a copy for free. Again, that must have been followed by a fight somewhere, where the patient claims poverty and the physician or holder of the records disagrees. But again, I have yet to actually read of such a fight.
arf | 08.01.06 - 2:30 am | #

If I had to wait a few weeks for scan to see how my cancer was coming along I think I'd be pretty mad... so perhaps some of the violence is simply the result of frustration at being continually let down by a knackered health service?

Obviously this frustration shouldn't be taken out on the frontline staff. Perhaps Tony Blair should appoint a Minister for Receiving Punches from People Who Deserve Better?
Raw Carrot | Homepage | 08.01.06 - 2:41 am | #

Hold on, Raw Carrot. Not that I disagree with you......

But look at the cases described.

1. "....a senior A & E nurse...had been on the Saturday night shift and was assaulted by a drunk...."

2. "....a middle-aged man [who should know better] came in at 9.30 a.m. and asked for an appointment to see the doctor, he was offered 11.15 a.m., not good enough in his opinion...the receptionist said it was the best [Dr. Crippen] could offer.

He said: “You are an unhelpful c***; the service here is always crap” and stormed out. The receptionist burst into tears.

[and apparently had done such things multiple times]

3. "....Two paramedics are called to an abusive, drunken lout who has severed an artery smashing a shop window. The lout punches one of the paramedics......"

[my humble suggestion, if it's an arterial bleed, wait a while. He'll calm down.....]

In my own practice, the confrontations that have resulted in police calls, and an arrest in one case, all involved narcissistic, personality-disordered people. Like the man described who had to wait a whole hour-fourty-five minutes to be seen urgently. I had one of those, just like Dr. Crippen, the patient was shown the door just as quickly.

I have had patients frustrated over medical "emergencies", where the "emergency" was a scratch too small and too superficial to suture, or a rash that the person has had for months, and treatment was not offered quickly enough. As in.....we'll see you in the afternoon. With anger outbursts, profanities, and destruction of furniture, holes in my wall, that sort of thing.

Narcotic/controlled substance problems.

The fifth visit where the patient complains the whole bottle of narcotic pills fell down the toilet. Once again.

It's not fun having to break the bad news, and tell Mr. Smith that I will not be a part of his toilet's narcotic addiction.

Again, followed by an anger outburst with various threats, apparently out of concern for the health and safety of the toilet.

When I think of it, I cannot think of one time, not one, where a patient has become violent because of a delay in treatment or denial of treatment.

That's my experience in the USA. How about you, Dr. Crippen? Have you had a patient get violent with you because of a delay in cancer treatment, or other life-or-death problems like that?
arf | 08.01.06 - 6:14 am | #

Hi Raw Carrot/Arf

The interesting thing about patients waiting - and by God, some have to wait - is that I find they see themselves as being on the side of the doctor, and working with him against the system. It's is a bit reminiscent of what I imagine the Dunkirk spirit was like.

To take an example. I referred a middle aged man to the colo-rectal clinic under the "Two week rule" because he has had a change in bowel habit, and some bleeding. That history means you MUST exclude bowel cancer. He needs a colonoscopy. Now he was seen in the colorectal clinic (by a nurse pracititioner I might say, not a doctor) within two weeks. Tick. Done. A success for Tony Blair. BUT BUT BUT the waiting list for the colonoscopy is 12 or more weeks. No one mentions that. I have told the patient I am not happy with this, that it stresses me, that there is nothing I can do. The patient, who is a nice man, ended up saying "God, doc, I don't know how you work in this system, it must drive you mad. How do you cope?"

It does drive me mad.

I "cope" at the moment by venting my anger in a pseudonymous blog.

But, no, strange people do not seem to take their fustration out on doctors. Yet. But of course, where America is today, the UK........

Drunks in a/e....that's another matter


John
Dr Crippen | Homepage | 08.01.06 - 10:17 am | #

The answer to your question is yes
Mark | 08.01.06 - 11:17 am | #

Actually, a little counterpoint: When I was in A&E, if one of the local frequent-flyer drunks or druggies was being a touch obstreperous let's say, then we'd provoke them a bit until they started shouting and screaming at us so that we could call security to have them thrown out for verbal abuse. Well, that's one less patient to see anyway.

PS. I'm very worried by Matthew Jee and the anotation of his MRIs. Very worried indeed.
The Venial Sinner | Homepage | 08.01.06 - 3:52 pm | #

I have read with interest website of mathew jee. In my opinion mathew has a mental illness.
He has multiple ailments with no apparent anatomical basis( I have looked at the MR scans, he also displays almost delusional thoughts regarding his 'being orally and anally raped'. He appears to think that these have caused his present circumstances.His GP offered a psychiatric consult and I think he was very wrong to refuse this. It is quite often the case in those people with mental illness that they lack 'insight' in other words, the ability to recognise they have mental health issues. The situation would be funny if it were not so sad, and his refusal to accept psychiatric help will, in the long term, cause him significant problems.
If you read this note mathew, I would urge you to consult with a psychiatrist before your life becomes even worse.
The Pink Psychiatrist | Homepage | 08.01.06 - 4:17 pm | #

I might just add that the Pink Psychiatrist is my flatmate using my computer, hence why it links to my site. He has no blog of his own...yet
The Venial Sinner | Homepage | 08.01.06 - 4:21 pm | #

Hi Matthew, Pink Psychiatrist, Venial Sinners and all.

Matthew, I cannot give medical or legal advice on NHS BLOG DOCTOR. You have obviously had a rough time.

The points that you raise are of real concern, they highlight a lot of issues which are profoundly worrying and which need sorting out.

I welcome contributions to NHS BLOG DOCTOR but we can only discuss general principals and we often do that in a rather lighthearted, indeed irreverent manner.

Your issues and problems deserve better than that. I think it would be good to discuss them personally and in confidence with someone you trust.



John Crippen
Dr Crippen | Homepage | 08.01.06 - 4:37 pm | #

Arf answered the ambulance/bleeding artery exactly how I would have. The patient will soon enough be lying down and not fighting ...

The LAS have a process where we 'flag' dangerous addresses, then we can request police arrival before we enter - as Dr Crippen says, wandering into someone's home, especially after alcohol, is an inherently risky business.

Hospitals have funny ideas sometimes - I know more sickle cell patients banned from certain hospitals than abusive drunks. I also know two paramedics who had complaints put in against them because they restrained, in two seperate incidents, violent patients - the complaints?

From the nurse in charge of the department.

The thing that us ambulance people have to balance is 'is this patient mad, bad or medically unbalanced'. If they are 'mad', then police will be called and the patient restrained before taking them to A&E. If the patient is medically unbalanced (for example a head injury, or post epilleptic fit), then again they will be restrained with help from the police and taken to A&E.

If they are just 'bad' then... well... us ambulance people need our stress relief, and there are no cameras in the back of an ambulance...

And two sober ambulance people fight a lot better than one drunk 'gent' from the city.

...or we just bugger off - go off the road to fill in an incident form, which gives us 10 minutes to get an uninterrupted cup of tea.

When working in A&E, the abuse was mainly verbal - when I stared in A&E we never had security, the violent persons protocol had 'male nurses and porters' to evict the violent person.

And most verbal abuse can be calmed down, unless you really wanted the patient out of your hair, in which case you could wind 'em up and throw 'em out.

Cheers Dr Crippen, you've given me food for thought for my own blog post now...
Tom Reynolds | Homepage | 08.01.06 - 6:14 pm | #

Actually something just came back to me from my time in A&E. I remember an absolutely sozzled psychiatrist who had been found collapsed in the street by the ambos. He was put into the ambulance to be taken to our A&E. Half way there he woke up enough to punch the ambo in the face. He then spent his time in A&E making a complete arse of himself and slurring indignantly the "he was a psychiatric registrar" and he knew if he was well enough to go home better than we did. Pompous git. After he'd called a few of us cunts and spat at one nurse we had security restrain him. When he was sober enough to safely go home, he did so but with the police informed of his assualt on the ambo and the GMC informed of his very unprofessional behaviour. His notes were later requested for evidence in his forthcoming hearing. Ha ha ha!
The Venial Sinner | Homepage | 08.01.06 - 7:11 pm | #

By the way, having treated many toilets for narcotic addiction, and quite a few sinks as well, I must point out a brilliant physician in the USA who put a hidden camera in a bathroom to see what the pills do when they don't think they're being watched.

http://www.placebojournal.com/pills.gif
arf | 09.01.06 - 1:05 am | #

Dear Pink Psychiatrist.

I have had Psychiatric Consults. My Psychiatrist has diagnosed me suffering Chronic PTSD as a result of infant and early childhood sexual abuse.

He has written to my GP and consultants asking them to stop blaming my physical problems on my mind. He has stated there is nothing psychiatry can offer to help them with my physical problems.

I am in regular counselling, thankyou, and am coping well with that part of my recovery process. I have, however, been severely re-traumatised by what has happened to my body as a result of bad treatment based on bad diagnosis.

The physical problems I have do stem directly from the physiological damage caused when I was raped as an infant.

My neck was bent back and stuck in a twisted manner by oral rape. This has caused a neurological deficiency which means my pelvic floor and many other muscles in the lower pelvic region do not function (confirmed by neuro-urologists at the RNOH).

My right diaphragm stopped functioning and became in effect a structural muscle holding my back up and drawing up the contents of my abdomen to compensate. It may be something you haven't heard of but it is real and of physical causes.

Your quick diagnosis is an interesting though frankly irrelevant thought in your mind. What is more interesting than the contects is the fact that you feel you can diagnose without having met me. Superpowers have you got? Or a narcisistic disturbance? Given that a Psych freind of mine believes over 50% of NHS Psychiatrists suffer Narcisistic Personality Disorder and that I don't believe inm Superpowers (mine or yours) I tend to believe the latter may be true. Touche.

Matthew
Matthew Jee | 09.01.06 - 8:57 am | #

Dr Crippen,

Thanks. I understand the limits and purpose of your site.

I need a doctor who starts looking at my body and not running from the disgust they suffer at the genesis of these problems into a quick, lazy and incorrect diagnosis such as conversion disorder, psychosomatic troubles, etc.

If anyone wishes to post further to me or on the subject they are welcome to do so on my site under the story linked above.

Thanks.

Matthew Jee
Matthew Jee | 09.01.06 - 9:05 am | #

I just noticed the venal sinners last post:

"Half way there he woke up enough to punch the ambo in the face. He then spent his time in A&E making a complete arse of himself and slurring indignantly the "he was a psychiatric registrar" and he knew if he was well enough to go home better than we did. Pompous git."

I wonder, could this be one of the NHS Shrinks who suffers NPD my friend refers to?

Matthew
Matthew Jee | Homepage | 09.01.06 - 9:20 am | #

OK, perhaps over sensitive. The article made a valid point. The photograph equated overweight = fat slob. There are many over-eating fat slobs about, but my point is that there are quite a few over-eating not so fat slobs as well, claiming a virtue they don't deserve, and a lot of very depressed obese people who are given a very hard time.
Maureen | 09.01.06 - 4:56 pm | #

Dr Crippen. This website my be lighthearted and irreverent in approach but I have this morning reported the "pink psychiatrist" to the practise committee of the GMC. The text of the complaint is below and is self-explanatory.

---------------------------------

Dear Madam/Sir

I have recently been involved in an internet discussion where issues regarding some physical health problems I suffer as a result of being raped and abused when I was an infant through to my early years were discussed.

An NHS Psychiatrist involved him or herself in the conversation anonymously contributing the following:

" I have read with interest website of mathew jee. In my opinion mathew has a mental illness.
He has multiple ailments with no apparent anatomical basis( I have looked at the MR scans, he also displays almost delusional thoughts regarding his 'being orally and anally raped'. He appears to think that these have caused his present circumstances.His GP offered a psychiatric consult and I think he was very wrong to refuse this. It is quite often the case in those people with mental illness that they lack 'insight' in other words, the ability to recognise they have mental health issues. The situation would be funny if it were not so sad, and his refusal to accept psychiatric help will, in the long term, cause him significant problems. If you read this note mathew, I would urge you to consult with a psychiatrist before your life becomes even worse."

I have benefited from regular counselling for the psychological impacts of the abuse I suffered and have taken psychiatric consultations. I have been diagnosed as suffering Chronic PTSD as a result of infant and early childhood sexual abuse. My Psychiatrist has written to My GP and to the consultant in charge of my physical rehabilitation asking them to please stop blaming my physical problems on my mental health as they are physical in basis and there is nothing mental health services can contribute to their resolution. I have been discharged fully from mental health services. My musculoskeletal problems have been described by relevant specialist consultants as "unique" and "complex and challenging".

I believe this person has taken a risky extrapolation from a small and selective part of the evidence in my case and behaved in a most unprofessional manner in making the above comments:

i/ This person has denigrated the truth about the terrifically damaging (physically and psychologically) sexual abuse I suffered: "no apparent anatomical basis", "almost delusional thoughts", "appears to think".

ii/ This person has made a partial and non-specific diagnosis - publicly in an internet forum - without the proper evidence: "In my opinion matthew has a mental illness".

iii/ This person makes assumptions about me which are false and damaging for which they have no evidence: that I "lack insight ...", that I have refused psychological support, that my life will "become(s) even worse" if I do not consult with a Psychiatrist.

iv/ This person goes on to describe my situation as "funny were it not so sad" which is unacceptably insensitive.

v/ This person refused to capitalise my name anywhere in the above statements and mis-spelled it repeatedly. They also wrote this not directly to me, but in the third person apart from the last line. I believe these could be signs that the person themselves suffers mental health issues and may objectify and mistreat their patients when in practice.

In short I believe this person may not be fit to practice psychiatry. I will not state these conclusions to be fact because I do not have all the evidence - something which I do have insight into - unlike this person. At the very least this person would seem to need a some guidance about the appropriate and inappropriate manner in which to communicate their ideas.

I can not identify this person because they posted their above comments anonymously, however they did so through a friends computer who is easily traceable and whom I am sure can be relied upon to provide their contact information.

I wish to raise this issue before the GMC as a disciplinary matter and wish it to be investigated. I can provide full texts of the relevant discussions and the information I have which would allow this person to be traced. Please can you advise me as to which steps I should now take to proceed with this matter and forward any necessary documentation to my home address as below.

Thank you for your time in dealing with this matter. I look forward to hearing from you soonest.

Matthew Jee
Matthew Jee | Homepage | 10.01.06 - 9:14 am | #

Matthew,

Thank you for letting me know about the action you feel you have to take. I am sorry that you are so aggreived.

NHS BLOG DOCTOR does not give medical advice to patients, and I have made that clear on the front page. This is a light-hearted blog looking at health-care problems in an often rrreverent fashion.

To repeat what I said above:

Matthew, I cannot give medical or legal advice on NHS BLOG DOCTOR. You have obviously had a rough time.

The points that you raise are of real concern, they highlight a lot of issues which are profoundly worrying and which need sorting out.

I welcome contributions to NHS BLOG DOCTOR but we can only discuss general principals and we often do that in a rather lighthearted, indeed irreverent manner.

Your issues and problems deserve better than that. I think it would be good to discuss them personally and in confidence with someone you trust."



I am sorry you were upset by the remarks from the commentator who styles himself as "the pink psychiatrist." I do not know who he is. I do not even know that he is in fact a real psychiatrist.

I don't beleive in censorship in any fashion but at the same time I have no wish for any reader of NHS BLOG DOCTOR to be offended personally.

Therefore, would you be happier if I removed all the correspondence from the comments problem? I do not wish to cause offence to anyone. If you have genuine grounds for a complaint, then this would perhaps be better made privately and, as I say, do remember that the so-called "pink psychiatrist" may not be a psychiatrist at all.

John
Dr Crippen | Homepage | 10.01.06 - 10:50 am | #

Dr Crippen,

Thanks. As I expressed earlier I am aware of and fully accept the limitations of your site. I did not nor do seek your advice in particular from you or any of your readers. My original post was related to the issue of violence within the NHS and I am sorry if it got a bit off topic.

I am not worried about these things beyond the concerns I have expressed above. I do not personally feel any need for anonymity - in fact the opposite - there is so much denial of these issues in society in general and within medicine that I actively publicise what was done to me to raise awareness.

Last year the Department of Health requested I draft a proposal for National Guideline considerations for NICE in relation to the treatment of adult survivors of sexual abuse. If the "Pink Psychiatrist" really is a psychiatrist, which I assume s/he is, s/he would appear to have broken many fundamental rules of engagement in this field. If this person is a Psychiatrist and qualified with his/her friend the Venial Sinner, then they are about age 26. This would lead me to believe they have not yet or have only recently completed their specialist training which makes all of the above even more worrying.

I have raised the complaint with the GMC because I feel quite strongly that no Psychiatrist should make off-hand diagnosis in this manner and that it could be dangerous to persons who are less progressed in their recovery than me for a Psychiatrist to behave in this manner. Should the GMC agree I am sure they will take the appropriate action.

I too am against censorship and for that reason, and those stated above, have no desire for any of the material on your site to be removed. I do recognise that it is your site and should you wish to will also have no complaint about that. I have, of course, made copies for the record in the circumstance but my personal preference would be for the original to remain.

Thanks for publishing a truly interesting weblog. And thanks, especially, for being so considered in your attitude to these matters.

Best wishes

Matthew Jee
Matthew Jee | Homepage | 10.01.06 - 12:05 pm | #

Dear Pink Psychiatrist,

I am a friend of Matthew's and also a registered Osteopath who has spent time working him to resolve his very real musculoskeletal dysfunction. I am also able to confirm that he has in fact already sought psychiatric counselling which has resulted in his diagnosis of PTSD with the all the physical manifestations which accompany this.

I find it distressing that he has been again attacked by lay-people and professionals claiming 'it's all in has head' when there is quite clearly more than this occuring. It is this type of attitude towards Matthew which has led to further degredation of his physical health. Not to mention the added stress this heaps onto an already delicate situation.

This has in itself retraumatised a
person who frankly didn't need it.
James | Homepage | 10.01.06 - 1:25 pm | #

James, thank you.

I am increasingly worried about all this; it is not right that Matthew and his friends/colleagues should feel they have to discuss the serious problems from which Matthew suffers in a public forum.

Matthew has said that he doesn't mind if I remove all this correspondence. I increaslingly think that might be best for everyone.

Do you have a view?

John
Dr Crippen | Homepage | 10.01.06 - 1:57 pm | #

Dr Crippen,

James has headed back to work. He often pops round during lunch to see how I am. I showed him this thread and he wished to add his comment.

I think this thread is, to all extents and purposes, closed in this forum and I feel there is nothing I can add.

As I said earlier, I personally would prefer you not to delete anything - although as I also said earlier I fully respect your right as owner of this site to do so and will not feel agrieved should you wish to.

Best wishes,

Matthew Jee
Matthew Jee | Homepage | 10.01.06 - 2:32 pm | #

Dear Mathew

I am sorry that my comments have caused you so much distress

I am a complete novice where blogging is concerned. What I wrote was intended solely as a personal point of view, which was what I believed you had been seeking by commenting in this blogg arena and publishing your entire case history on the web.

In no way were the comments intended to form the basis of a formal medical opinion. Anyone who has access to your site will form a personal opinion and these will vary. It is very unfortunate that I chose the name 'the pink psychiatrist' as this had no bearing on what I wrote.

I would like to repeat my apologies for any distress I may have caused to you personally. I have learned my lesson from this experience, and will not be returning to these sites in the future.
The Pink Psychiatrist | Homepage | 12.01.06 - 12:28 am | #

Thank goodness for that!

Matthew, I thing that helps a lot; I suspect this guy just shot from the hip and reached all the wrong conclusions. It takes a lot to offer an apology like that.

I hope you may feel able to accept the apology.

I don't want NHS BLOG DOC to be a fighting ground, and I certainly don't want it to be somewhere for people to make ill-informed judgements about others.

I hope he has learnt his lesson, but this is a matter for you.

As I said before, I will remove all the comments if you would prefer then we can all have a fresh start.

I will leave it with you.


John
Dr John Crippen | Homepage | 12.01.06 - 12:57 am | #

Dr Crippen,

I am glad he is wise enough to know he screwed up. He still hasn't accepted my invitation for a damn fine coffee and a flick through the scans but there you go. I do accept his appology and I do not want anything removed. It does after all relate principally to me and I believe there are important lessons herein for victims and those who wish or must in their professional capacity assist them. I hope you can respect that wish. To reiterate, it's your site though so I accept whatever you chose to do as your inalienable right.

Matthew

To Te Pink Psychiatrist:

"In my opinion mathew has a mental illness. " ..... "In no way were the comments intended to form the basis of a formal medical opinion. " The Pink Psychiatrist.

I thank you for your appology.

Your comments have not caused me a great deal of distress. This is because - as I stated earlier - my recovery is going very well. I am, as this whole thread shows, quite resiliant enough to see off somebody who acts stupidly and without thinking and without insight - such as yourself. I do have insight. Your opinion was wrong in every way.

I am strong many others are not. Many people earlier in their recovery might have thrown themselves off a bridge because of what you wrote or what you say to them in practice.

For that reason, if you are a psychiatrist or psychiatric trainee, I would like you to take this one on the nose, mate, to put it in the vernacular.

I want this to be a lesson to others and to lead to protocols around this issue for practicing psychiatrists if none exist. Be clear, I am in no way on a vendetta against you and I do genuinely accept your appology.

BUT, the GMC will do nothing about the issue without knowing your name (see below). Please, be as brave as I have had to be, to face my past, to recover, to deal repeatedly with foolish opiions like yours both in and out of the consulting room.

Since the time Freud's contemporaries talked him into Hysteria as a dignosis Psychiatry has done nothing but harm to sexually abused people (Freud originally said, to paraphrase heavily, 'my patients were sexually abused as children and when they talk about it they get better'. The victorian age he worked in could not bear it - he caved in to peer pressure and the rest is a long sad history we are only just beginning to break. It is clear from some of your thoughts there is a long, long way to go:

"he also displays almost delusional thoughts regarding his 'being orally and anally raped'"

When I was 51 weeks old my Mother was convinced by a clever paedophile that he loved kids but couldn't have any. She let him and his mentally disturbed wife look after me for a week on holiday. My first birthday present was that I became the personal masturbatory toy of someone with a very, very sick mind. He spent a week orally and anally raping me. No one knew at the time and the physical damage caused was untreated. It is directly responsible for the state I am in now, with a little help from the NHS who repeatedly misdiagnosed and mistreated me both physically and psychologically. The flashback memories I suffer are horific: like haing a telgraph pole shoved down your throat and up your a***. Unpleasant. Hard to deal with. Not made easier by the misguided "truths" of psychiatry.

To conclude I genuinely thank you for your appology and would politely ask you go one step further and contact the GMC as below.

Best wishes

Matthew Jee

ps The Hip surgeon I saw at the RNOH said yesterday there is clearly a phsical basis to my injury but that I have a problem: the NHS will look at the complex set of physical compensations I suffer one by one: they are not capable of taking a wholistic approach. He cannot order an MRI of my pelvic floor to see if this is the principal causal feature, he cannot order an ultrasound of my diaphragm to establish it's level of function. In fact he made the position official: I am up that famous creek with no paddle. He suggested I continue seeing the osteopath. As a victim of such horific abuse I am being continually retraumatised by a system that at first denied the problems and now admits it can't deal with them. Contributions to my fund to fly to America and get my body patched up as best they can are of course welcome.
--------------------------------------
Reply from the GMC

In reply please quote: RC/FPD/2006/0067

Matthew Jee
matthew@freedomforall.net

Dear Mr Jee

Thank you for your email of the 10th of January.

The GMC licenses doctors to practise in the UK and maintains the register of
qualified doctors. We can restrict or remove a doctor's registration if
their fitness to practise is found to be impaired. We can also issue a
warning if there is evidence to suggest the doctor's behaviour or
performance has fallen seriously below the standard expected. We can
normally only consider complaints where the events giving rise to the
complaint happened within the last five years.

We can only deal with complaints about registered doctors. We have
considered your complaint but as you have not provided us with any details
concerning the identity of the doctor concerned, we have been unable to take
any action on the matter.

With regard to your request for a complaint form we have posted one to your
address.

I am sorry that on this occasion we cannot help you. Please contact me on
the email address below if you have any questions.

Yours sincerely



Rory Connolly

Investigation Assistant

Fitness to Practise Directorate
Direct Line: 0161 923 6492
Direct fax: 0161 923 6578
Matthew Jee | Homepage | 12.01.06 - 6:33 am | #

Matthew

Thank you for that. That is extremely gracious off you.

I will as you request leave all the letters on.

What I would say to everyone else who may have been following this, it PLEASE go to Mattew Jee's homepage where the issues involved are covered in detail and from which you will all be able to get a much fairer idea of the problems with which Matthew has had to grapple.

John
Dr John Crippen | Homepage | 12.01.06 - 8:22 am | #

Can it ever be right to deny someone access to medical treatment for bad behaviour?

Yes it can be right to deny treatment to an A-hole, if any Medical Staff who puts themself at risk to treat said A-hole may not be able to assist many patients who truly appreciate the help. As a former A-hole, I say walk away and let them suffer.
Wm H | Homepage | 13.01.06 - 7:43 pm | #

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Okay- that is one of the funniest things I have read EVER!!!!!

And I read a lot.

Anyway- I will bookmark this as I have a relative in nursing and they are looking for info on how bad things are in other places. They have meth heads come in a go violently ballistic on their HEADS and beat up staff- and then they get charged, etc... disciplined- because security wasn;t there when it happened and they have had to restrain them to prevent further violence. To add insult to injury- well- the nurse that brings charges against a patient gets told by the judge to drop charges because she was being mean when she woke him up and she scared the biddy baby.....What the hell? I am appalled, and sickened- but teachers and aides get the same level of respect and so I guess we are just training them for you all when they get bigger. Unbelievable!!
impatientpatient | 19.02.06 - 6:37 am | #

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paul simon | Homepage | 01.05.06 - 7:38 pm | #

i ended up in a and e a few weeks ago, after taking on some thugs on the streets as we dont have any real police just community patrol officers who are shit scared of flies

say there waiting in the dirtiest room i have seen for years, with three of the four loos locked and out of order, the fourth one covered in shit (quite literally), with a receptionist spending more time making private calls than dealing with the ever bigger queue

saw head injuries and worse take at least 40 minutes to be triarged

all i am saying is that i was big time cheesed off, and i can dam well see why the terrible service makes people aggressive, i have been in a and e in many other parts of the world and the poor attitude of the staff in the uk is not present anywhere else, i can see why some people loose their rag

and as for needing to see a gp and being fobbed off and told you cannot see them for X hours, I'm on the patients side, walk into a GP surgery in New Zealand or the states or italy or belgium and you will be seen pretty much straight away, none of the crap you have to put up with in the UK, the patient is right he is probably paying more into the health service than a gp gets paid, and yet he is subjected to crap crap service, and you wonder why he gets cheesed off

sort the crap service out and the violence would go down dramatically
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Dan554 | Homepage | 07.02.07 - 4:59 pm | #

Dr Crippen - hope all is well in your world. I thought I'd write a little update for those who thought my physical problems were all in my head:

"there is no significant difference in the diaphragmatic position in different phases of respiration. ... The patient feels his diaphragm is compensating for other muscle dysfunction in the trunk, this is possible given the degree of excursion on inspiration." - from the specialist radiologist assisting with understanding how these musculoskeletal complications are affecting my breathing.

"endo luminal ultrasound shows some abnormality at 6 o clock in the inter-phincteric region, ad thinning of the internal sphincter. I think this is compatible with anal abuse, which he suffered as a child..."

"However, radiology clearly revealed a full-thickness intussusception of the anteriior rectal wall, with a take off point 2.9cm above the anorectal junction which descended into the upper anal canal on straining"

This has been attributed, most likely, to what I have been reporting for three years (and been ignored over): The neurology to my pelvis, particularly my pelvic floor, is disturbed.

So as for the Pink Psychiatrist and his risky quick "judgement" ...

"He has multiple ailments with no apparent anatomical basis( I have looked at the MR scans, he also displays almost delusional thoughts regarding his 'being orally and anally raped'"

1/ There is your anatomical basis sunshine .... and

2/ "delusional" thoughts? .... so deluded I have managed to damage my own anal sphincter, iner-sphincteric region, cause myself an internal rectal prolapse and stop my diaphragm function ... ???? Is that your logic?

yeah, yeah ... no wonder psychiatry and medicine are in such a mess.

I am still being denied medical treatment. But now it's obviously to protect medical colleagues who took dumb shortcuts like the "Pink Psychiatrist" and failed to do their jobs properly in the first place.

Last week I was told there is no treatment for rectal intussusception which is a downright lie. there are many treatments ranging from the medical to the surgical and none of these were mentioned or discussed. Having proven the anatomical basis of my problems I was discharged for political convenience.

Why? - because under British law to prove negligence one must prove three things: a) negligence b) that it harmed you, and c) that SOME INTERVENTION MUST HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE

c) is the killer ... by denying me any treatment and refusing to admit there are any ... colleagues of people who got it wrong can ensure their earlier negligence does not become legal negligence. Of course this makes the actions of the later doctors a criminal conspiracy to deny me my right to health amongst other things.

... but of course .. all I have to do is find a doctor prepared to go against their own kind to get help ... wish me luck - or better still send me an aeroplane ticket.

Matthe
Matthew Jee | Homepage | 18.05.07 - 12:12 pm | #

dr john crippen (nhs blog doctor) is a fucking gmc (general medical council) spy who freely shares information about medical bloggers with the gmc , so please be very wary of him.
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