I think it was 20 years rather than 15. It should have been more. Compensation has focused on those victims who are still alive. It is my understanding that those who died have in large part still not received any compensation. I think this in part is to do with the fact that he was only charged and convicted of ‘wounding with intent’. It was also due to the fact that in most cases the Coroner was not involved because the death was not at the time regarded as suspicious. The cases of some of the people who died at his hands have been reported to the Coroner for examination. Once the Coroner delivers his verdict (bit of a slam dunk in most cases), then families will be able to get compensation.
Whichever way you look at it Paterson should have been stopped long ago and, as you say, probably locked up for a lot longer as well.
At least he *was* eventually stopped which is something, I suppose.
Oh Hair Bear! I am so sorry.
That the industry had such a reverence towards doctors that no one said anything over the long years, or that the few who did were overruled, is what really needs looking at going forward.
Historically in UK there was a ridiculous unquestioning respect for doctors, especially surgical, one that they actively and arrogantly expected. It is time to treat the profession according to the skills of the physician and not as though they were Gods in all but name.
The only company I can recall having a positive attitude to older people is B&Q, who recognised the knowledge and experience they tended to have and made them preferable as customer advisors.
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There’s an interesting conflict here. Doctors have to deal with a wide variety of people and diseases, and being given a position of assumed authority and trust enables them to manage difficult individuals and ask the otherwise unaskable. OTOH it does give some a sense of power and an ability to manipulate people for their own ends.
I have a close friend who is trying to extract themselves from a relationship with a medic, and it’s difficult to do. They know the buttons to press, and how to push just hard enough to get what they want.
Interesting thought.
I would argue that the reason people with gender dysmorphia are now treated surgically (or endocrinologically) and not psychologically is that surgeons are now able to tack on bits or cut off other bits.
I’d suggest that change has been slow in the feudal world of the profession and as you say surgeons are the worst. I find younger consultants, especially those that have trained and worked abroad are less up their own bottoms than previous generations.
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ah… the ever ebullient James Robertson Justice… he was well cast in that rôle 
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Timely warning…
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so pleased to be under medical care in France…
"That’s complicated by the fact that the NHS is still using Internet Explorer 11 and these old Windows computers that take about 10 minutes to turn on and log in.
"You may not get your logins for the first two weeks. So, you turn up on the ward round, the consultant’s annoyed because you haven’t got a patient’s blood results because you haven’t got a login yet.
“And I think that contributes to burnout because you’re like: ‘Why am I breaking my back when I can’t even do the basics?’”
These problems are not unique to the NHS, although I sympathise with the frustration they cause.
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Perhaps you might qualify that comment a bit more… I’ve spent a significant amount of time in French hospitals as an inpatient - including wards where interns are in attendance - and there appeared not to be any issue with them accessing results of my blood tests taken earlier that morning 
There are shortages of medical staff in many areas in France, especially GPs, hospitals and clinics etc less so as I understand it. I know that may nurses working in some northern areas like Metz and Nancy prefer to travel the short distances to Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland and Germany etc because the salaries and working conditions are in many cases better than in France.
Saying that,I don think the situation in France is anywhere near as critical as it is in the UK.
I work for a large multi-national company with faecal IT: computer restarts sometimes taking a couple of hours due to network issues, new starters having to wait a couple of weeks before getting a working login, users having to walk with their laptop (one just outside my office right now swearing out loud) in order to find a place that they can connect. etc.
If the French health service has a well functioning IT set up then that’s great.
They seem to at hospital and CPAM level at least. Our MT is a bit of a dinosaur but manages to get his CV card reader working OK so he gets paid
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Updating the never ending topic, PM Sunak is presenting some more of his ‘pledges’ specifically for the NHS
My concern is from where dos the UK government intend to rabbit-from-a-hat these new medical staff? Training in UK of British students with take years. The only way to fast fill the government’s pledge is opening immigration to foreign medical staff.
The salaries and CV experience of working in UK will undoubtedly attract many from around the world where conditions and pay are less attractive. Applications will come from Asia. Will there be adequate vetting and supervision of applicants in the rush ti fulfil this pledge and patch up the ailing state of the NHS?
I am tentatively concerned
posed further questions about the way in which foreign nurses are recruited in the UK
With AI on the job, the fake qualifications for sale are only going to increase and be harder to detect. From anywhere
Is the NHS ready for this??
Strange things, dreams. I woke up too early a few days ago, switched on LBC and soon after fell asleep, and started dreaming. In my dream was a woman with a very distinct voice and we were holding hands. There was real sense of togetherness between us in my dream.
Woke up again later and I heard her, same voice, speaking on LBC – it was caller Claire or Clare phoning in to LBC.
She was speaking while I was asleep and appeared in my dream, but I don’t remember what she was saying. There are 2 conversations I found on LBC and my heart goes out to her. She’s desperate but was very able to say how she felt.
Time for the Tories to go as instigators of the NHS decline.
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