ThunderDragon Blog

How much is a life worth?

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Guidelines (Nice) has ruled for the first time that saving a life cannot be justified at any cost, in a review of its ethical guidelines.

The ruling - made by the board of the controversial organisation - contradicts advice it received from its own ‘Citizens Council’ which offers advice from a representative sample of the general public…

It has now rejected the so-called “rule of rescue” which stipulates that people facing death should be treated regardless of the costs. The rule is based on the natural impulse to aid individuals in trouble. (The Telegraph)

WTF are they on? The NHS is there to save people. It is there to provide healthcare to those who need it. Everyone who needs it. Only prohibitive cost for minimal benefit should be denied.

If it will not spend our money on saving our lives, what is the point of the NHS?! If I get ill, I want to know that the NHS will do everything it can to make me better - no matter the cost. Otherwise why do we pay taxes for it?!

I can’t believe that there is actually such a thing as a fat pride groups. It’s not that there’s anything wrong per se with being fat, but it isn’t something that people should be proudof.

Being happy with yourself is all well and good. It is how people should be, and certainly far preferable to constant worrying about your body. But the very idea of “fat pride” is really quite abhorrent.

Being obese is not a good thing. It is just unhealthy. Whilst it is entirely up to individual what their body shape is and how they regard it, to form groups focusing on celebrating their obesity and attacking anyone who points it out for what it is - plain unhealthy - is taking it waaay too far.

I don’t understand why anyone would be attacking Princess Beatrice over her weight and how she looks in a bikini [right]. She’s hardly obese, fat, or even “chubby”. Yes, she’s hardly perfectly slim, but she’s certainly no worse than at least 90-odd per cent of the British population.

Really, ratehr than attacking her, critics should be pointing her out as an example of how women do not have to be stick-insects to be attractive. And, frankly, I think that she is far prettier than the vast majority of so-called “supermodels” who are so thin you couldn’t see them if they walked behind a lamp post.

Beatrice is in the “healthy” range, the range to which we should all aim. She’s not stupidly and disgustingly thin, but she’s not fat or obese either. She’s curvy - and that’s the body shape that most men desire.

So, frankly, I agree with Sarah Ferguson - leave Beatrice alone. In fact, I’m going to go a step further: all those critics can well and truly fuck off. Beatrice is perfectly fine as she is.

Why would anyone do this?

Office workers who sit at a desk for eight hours a day and spend more than three hours without stretching double their risk of developing deep vein thrombosis (DVT), scientists have warned…

All workers who commonly sit at their computer for most of the day should do the same leg and foot exercises, such as flexing the ankles, that are recommended during long-haul flights, it was advised. (The Telegraph)

Why - and how - can people spend so long just sitting at their desk? I get up every hour or so at least in order to either (a) walk to the printer; (b) go and get a cup of tea; (c) go to the toilet; (d) talk to a colleague; (e) any of the above in order to stretch my legs.

I also make a point of physically leaving the office building and walking in to town every single lunchtime. Partly because I need to stretch my legs and partly because I just need new scenery. And I cycle to and from work.

I fidget too much to sit in one place for so long. I have to move every now and then. Quite how anyone can spend that length of time sitting in one position without getting up on a regular basis is beyond me.

Long term readers of The ThunderDragon will know that the Dragon is a volunteer with St John Ambulance. And, if you’ve got a particularly good memory, you’ll remember that I’ve been on several duties with the man himself.

I’m still hard at work volunteering, including my latest role doing Patient Transport work - mainly inter-hospital transfers and discharges. Sometimes, it’s great fun - a talkative old lady who needs a lift home. Sometimes, with High Dependency work, it’s particularly sad.

Of note was one job a few weeks ago.

We went to the ward to collect this frail old lady, who literally was no more than skin and bones. We had to be really careful sliding her from bed to our stretcher so as not to cause injury. She was also not able to talk. I don’t know what her medical conditions were exactly, but she was only able to mumble.

It makes it so awkward to know what to day. Obviously, you tell the patient what you’re doing - “We’re going to sit you up now” etc. But, during the journey, I had to try and make conversation. I couldn’t leave it as silence - it makes the patient feel unwanted. What to talk about though? Is it going in? Does she understand it? There’s no way of knowing.

And then we left her at this nursing home, to sit in her bed, with only a carer to talk to her and notice her once in a while. Perhaps she had family to pop in once in a while. Perhaps not.

It’s sad.

It’s a real problem though. Say she did have family. No doubt they feel extremely guilty about leaving her in such a home. But, if one of your parents gets to the stage when they need 24hour care (especially if you’re an only child as myself) what can you do?

I’m sure that everyone would want to look after them personally. Think about it - your Mum looked after you in your formative years, you’ll be reciprocating. But, even as a trained Health Care Worker, I’m not sure I could cope. Giving up a job, all social life, devoting your time - and instead of there being progress as there is with tending to a baby, things get harder. There’s an end with looking after a child - a bouncing toddler walking for themselves and starting to talk. The only end with caring for an elderly relative is a funeral.

I don’t have statistics or anything, but I’m sure that most people at some point have to say enough is enough and put their relative into a care home. But, where? You don’t need to read many ambulance blogs to hear about “Don’t care homes” - I’ve seen them myself - but it can be difficult to spot them on a ‘visit’. Regardless of that, there’ll never be someone with the constant supervision that you can offer at home. The elderly far too often find themselves lying, staring at the ceiling, as all of their hard earned savings flow away into paying for such an life.

You can see a lot doing my ‘job’. You learn to take most of it without much effect - it’s not callous, it’s the only way. But, every time I see one of these patients, I think of the sad and meaningless existence many people suffer in the last months of their life. That’s the thing that gets me.

Asp

Why oh why oh why?

How can this possibly be justified in any way? It really does seem that smokers are the whipping-boys at the moment. Consider this: the smoking ban, raising the legal age of purchase to 18, and now requiring a licence. All points to one end aim: making smoking illegal.

I really don’t like smoking. I consider it a horrible and disgusting habit. But I also think that it sure as hell isn’t up to me to tell smokers whether or not they can smoke. An age limit - and proof of age being required before cigarettes being purchased is surely enough? If they want to smoke, they’ve made their aim pretty clear by asking for cigarettes at the counter. Why is a licence to do this - especially at time of purchase - at all necessary or justifiable under anything bar dictatorship?

Totally illiberal and totally wrong.

Rights and responsibilities for entitlement to NHS care?! We pay our taxes which pays for the NHS. So why on earth should we have any “contract” with the NHS that requires that we change our lifestyles in order to receive the healthcare which we have already paid for?!

Whether you smoke or are overweight, so long as you pay your taxes, there is no reason how or why you should not get the healthcare which you have already paid for. You have the right to get free healthcare from the NHS whether or not you have a perfect healthy lifestyle - that’s the whole point of the NHS! Healthcare free at the point of delivery as required. Otherwise what’s the point of paying taxes for an NHS that you won’t benefit from?

If you are a British citizen and require healthcare, you are entitled to it from the NHS. No ifs or buts about “responsibilities” that require people to change their lifestyle before treatment. Of course they should take change their lifestyle to be more healthy, but that should not be part of any requirement for free healthcare from the NHS - it has already been paid for.

There is no choice about whether or not you pay tax for the NHS, so the NHS should have no choice about whether to treat you. If the NHS wants to become a conditional service, then it should be privatised.