If anyone thinks I am completely against doctors, they'd be wrong - it's only the emergency and life-and-death situations where some show they have no morals.
Of course, most of them do great good. And some even know the difference between life-saving and death-prevention. These are those good souls who restore people to their former health after injury and illness (and actually care) and who improve the lot of people with health problems hanging over them that could be really serious later on.
Let me give you two examples.
My elder son, when he was twelve, got pneumonia. Nothing unusual perhaps, but there was nothing they could do at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary (Wigan) because it was a horribly resistant strain. He was transferred to what was then Pendlebury Children's Hospital in Salford, where he underwent surgery to scrape the crap out of his lungs (its resembled cream cheese, I'm told) followed by a cocktail of antibiotics. In total he was off school for five months, but he was restored to health and you'd never know what he'd been through. Doctors had saved his life in the proper sense of the expression.
In September my wife, who had been overweight for years, had bariatric (weight-loss) surgery - a gastric bypass operation. This was only after a process of about three years enrolled in a weight management scheme where all the diet cheats were weeded out. The operation took place at one of the few sites in the UK for this, Salford Royal (formerly Hope Hospital).
She has lost 29kg (64lb) so far. I cannot praise the staff enough, and all the surgeons are top experts with hundreds of successful procedures each without ever having lost a single patient - a massive feat considering the danger obesity poses under anaesthetic. The operation has completely eliminated her type 2 diabetes, as well as gone a long way to prevent joint trouble, heart disease and stroke in the future.
Thank you to all involved.
Jack Orchison, December 14, 2013.
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