Stroke..A Timely Reminder
Some friends asked me how can they know when someone has a stroke and what they should do about it. Its summarised quite well on this chart.
A few words about the last point – stroke is a medical emergency. If given through the veins within three hours of the start of symptoms, a clot-busting drug called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) can reduce long-term disability for the most common type of stroke, by dissolving the clot that caused the blockage. In some cases, the stroke may be completely cured. As this drug can only be given in hospital, its important to transport a person suspected of a stroke to the Emergency Department as soon as possible.
Related articles
- Earlier Treatment with Clot-Busters Boosts Survival in Stroke (everydayhealth.com)
- Emergency Medicine: Recognize the Signs of Stroke (omtimes.com)
- Stroke Treatment – Why Every Second Counts (everydayhealth.com)
Tablets Are A Health Hazard
Not the tablets that are taken by mouth…but the electronic kind.
Pediatrician Guilty of Child Abuse
What happens when an internationally renowned child specialist working in one of the world’s best children’s hospitals is found guilty of sexually abusing young boys? The news barely made it into most of the world’s mass media 2 weeks ago..read on.
Phillipp Bonhoeffer..found guilty of sexual child abuse
Prof Philipp Bonhoeffer, former head of cardiology at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London until 2010, was found guilty by a panel of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service on 21st September 2012 of sexually molesting young boys in France and Kenya. Read the full details here.
In a subseqent meeting of the Panel a few days later, it ruled that Prof Bonhoeffer’s fitness to practise was impaired by reason of misconduct and decided to erase him from the General Medical Council register, thereby barring him from practising as a doctor in the UK.
The punishment appears appropriate but some isuues need to be highlighted:
-Why did it take so long for the Panel to formalise the charges when the first reported abuse was as early as 1995?
-Was there any element of cover-up by peers or the hospital in an attempt to save face?
-Being struck off the GMC Register in the UK merely means being barred from working in that country. He is still able to practise in Belgium (where he hails from) as well as the Continent.
This case highlights once again that professionals, being placed in a privileged position as a member of the medical profession, are entrusted with certain reponsibilities for which they are beholden to uphold. When this trust is abused, mechanisms must be in place to protect this trust. The question is, are these mechanisms adequate?
Doctor2008's Weblog 