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Country Roads Putting Your Life at Risk
Have you ever questioned the reason why winding country roads welcome the national speed limit?
It’s as though they’re creating a play ground for young drivers, an open invitation to come along and test out their brand new ‘speed machines’.
What they don’t realise is that what often comes along with the national speed limit, especially on quiet country lanes, is a car full of teenagers looking for fun. However, this often ends in tragedy as some drivers misjudge the road.
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Contractor Crushed at Corus Steel Plant
Everyone should feel that they and their loved ones are safe when at work, however the latest news that a contractor has died at the Corus Steel Works Plant in Scunthorpe puts doubt in our mind.
Barry Shaw, aged 53 was crushed between a lorry tractor and a trailer when working at the Steel Plant on 28 August.
This is the second death to take place within the Company in the past four months. It follows the death of Thomas Standerline, aged 26 who died whilst working at the Steel Works in Burton-Upon-Stather.
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A coach driver is hailed as a hero as he battled with a passenger who allegedly tried to grab the steering wheel of his double-decker coach. The Oxford tube service, which was carrying 12 passengers at the time flipped and spun off the motorway. The 21-year-old, whom witnesses said appeared drunk at the time, fled the scene but was later tracked down by police.
Emergency Services were called but by the time they appeared at the scene, all 12 passengers and the driver had managed to free themselves from the wreckage.
When speaking to the Telegraph an Oxford Tube spokesman said: “We can confirm that the police are investigating an incident which took place on board our Oxford to London service. “Ambulances attended the scene but thankfully none of the passengers or the driver was seriously injured. We would like to commend the driver for his brave actions in minimising what could have been a far more serious accident.”
Father And Daughter Injured By Bear
On 19th August 2010, the BBC News web site (Source) featured a story about how a 34 year old man saved his young daughter, 3, from serious injuries when she was attacked by an Asian Black Bear whilst visiting a Zoo in western Germany.
The incident occurred on 18/08/10 when the Dutch man, his wife and two children were visiting the Eifel zoo in Luenebach, western Germany. It is understood that the 3 year old girl climbed the 1 meter high fence whilst her parents were not watching and fell into the bear enclosure. The girl was then mauled and hit round the head by the bear before her father jumped over the fence to save his daughter. The 34 year old man who has not yet been named managed to save himself and his daughter but not before he was also attacked by the bear and receiving injuries to his leg.
The police and ambulance were called quickly to the scene by onlookers and both victims were taken to a hospital in nearby Trier by helicopter where they both remain. A police spokeswoman said that they were both ‘extremely lucky’ to survive an attack by the bear as this particular breed of bear are well known for their strength and regularly attack and kill livestock and humans in their natural habitat.
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Have you ever been to hospital or your GP for tests and told “no news is good news”? The idea being that, if there is something wrong with the result, you will be informed and the correct action is taken. This is something we take for granted; but should we?
A 3 year old girl, Miss R, was taken to A+E by her worried parents. She was examined and kept in overnight as it was noted that she had a high temperature. One of the junior doctors also sent a urine sample to check for infection. The next day, as the patient was much better she was discharged by the Consultant, with the diagnosis being “Likely Viral Illness”.
Unfortunately, the microbiology department had found that there was, in fact, a urinary infection. These results were phoned through to A+E, but never passed onto the Consultant. A day later a formal report arrived, and was signed by a junior doctor, but not acted on.
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At Least 40 Dead in Nigerian Horror Crash
Reports emerged in the UK and world media on Monday 16th of August of a horrific road accident in Nigeria, in which at least 40 people are believed to have been killed.
The tragic accident happened on the evening of Sunday 15th August on a busy motorway ‘expressway’ between the cities of Lagos and Ibadan. It is understood that a lorry, which was loaded with sugar, crashed into dozens of vehicles waiting at a police checkpoint, and exploded into flames after its brakes failed to operate when driving down a slope.
The official number of people dead or injured as a result of the accident is yet to be confirmed, however the estimate has risen from 20 to at least 40 in the last few days, and it is understood that at least 20 vehicles were involved including 2 minibuses which were able to carry 18 people each. The sugar company who owned the vehicle causing the accident has also confirmed that the two employees in the vehicle have died. It has been reported that many of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition and identifying the bodies is likely to be a lengthy process which will only prolong the agony of the victims’ families.
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Passengers Injured After Train Collides With Sewage Tanker
Twenty one passengers have been seriously injured and two are in a critical condition after the train on which they were travelling collided with a sewage tanker at a railway crossing.
The accident happened at approximately 5.30pm on Tuesday, 17th August 2010, near the small village of Little Cornard, Sudbury in Suffolk when the two-carriage train hit a large sewage tanker lorry which was stationary on a ‘user-worked’ railway crossing. A total of 21 people suffered injuries in the accident and two of these have been taken to Colchester General Hospital with serious injuries, one of which, a 58 year old man is in intensive care and it is not yet clear whether he will survive his injuries. The other 19 injured passengers suffered less serious injuries in the form of cuts, bruises, back and neck pain and broken ribs.
It is understood that the sewage tanker split open upon impact causing sewage to spill over a wide area and the train was then de-railed however, it did not tip over. Witnesses described how they heard a loud bang when the collision occurred and then saw a number of distressed passengers wandering around the area in a daze covered in blood. One witness, a 65 year old man said “There was a very, very loud bang. I’ve never heard anything like it. I thought it was an aeroplane crash or a bomb going off.”
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Are the NHS Learning from Mistakes?
I recently wrote a blog about the Daniel Ubani case. He was the German surgeon who came over to the UK to do a GP out of hours shift and ended up killing a patient by prescribing a huge amount of the drug diamorphine. This was a very sad case, but it was hoped that the media prominence of the events would ensure that reforms were brought in and that this tragedy was never repeated.
However, on the 12th of August, the Guardian newspaper published figures from the NHS that they had obtained under a Freedom of Information request. These are extremely disturbing. They noted that, in less than a year, health workers made 1,300 errors related to opiate analgesics. These resulted in 2 patients suffering “severe” harm and 3 patients actually dying.
In addition, the report revealed that two other GPs working for the same company as Dr Ubani , the ironically named ‘Take Care Now’, had also been involved in errors related to diamorphine prescribing. Fortunately, these events were not fatal.
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Bipolar disorder is a relatively common mental illness that is characterised by periods of very low moods or depression, contrasted with very high moods or mania. Many people have become increasingly familiar with the disorder due to its portrayal in the Stacey Slater character in the popular soap “Eastenders”.
One of the drugs used to stabilise the mood is Lithium. This is an extremely effective treatment and a number of patients remain on lithium for many years. However, it is important that the blood level does not get too high as it can then become toxic. As the level becomes higher, the patient may suffer with symptoms such as diarrhoea, vomiting, confusion and dizziness. If the level becomes higher still, the patient may suffer seizures, pass into a coma and suffer irreversible neurological damage. For these reasons, it is very important that levels of this drug are monitored with blood tests, especially after starting new medicines.
In a case from the MPS casebook, a patient in her forties (Mrs L) was newly diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and started on lithium by her psychiatrist. When her lithium levels were stable, after several changes in dose and regular monitoring, she was discharged back to her regular GP, Dr G.
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A 47 year old woman went to a clinic to have acupuncture treatment for back pain. The treatment involved the Acupuncturist inserting a number of needles in to the woman’s back. However, at some point during the treatment the Acupuncturist walked out of the room. However, to the woman’s surprise, the Acupuncturist failed to return, leaving the woman alone in the room, lying on the treatment table, with needles in her back whilst the practice had been closed and locked up. The woman had to call 911 after she had set the motion detectors off whilst trying to get out of the practice.
The woman somehow managed to remove the needles from her back. Luckily, the woman was taken home and did not sustain any injuries other than perhaps a fear of being left alone!
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