In message <[log in to unmask]> GROSS wrote:

> Dr Hotchkies' novel on http://www.hotch.demon.co.uk is an enjoyable and
> timely reminder of the pressures of GP practice on the resting mind.

I'll take that as a compliment.

> So clients feel guilty at suing their doctors? That's a new one. I wish
> I could tell just some of the horror stories we have to deal with.

Hmmm, I thought you said you'd looked at my webpages. In that case,
you would know that I have written a horror story of my own, and
jolly good it is too. Furthermore, I think I'm living in a horror
story and this thread has definitely turned into a horror story.

We all have anecdotes.

> Simple boyfriend trouble induced teenage angst (oh yes of the sort Iain
> writes about) leading to years of anti-deps/anti-psychotics.

I never came across a case of teenage angst that a whacking big dose
of chlorpromazine wouldn't sort out. Resistant cases usually settle
with depot preparations.

> It is
> perfectly true that the clients feel absolutely mortified at the very
> idea of suing. It is only because we have a  wide stock of weapons of
> torture in the office that we can get them to sign the flaming Legal Aid
> applications in the first place!

At least you're honest about it.

> If Iains thinks this is a specious argument for suing doctors, then he
> is overlooking the fact that not one of our cases can get off the ground
> without a highly experienced psychiatric consultant putting his name to
> a report saying that the treating doctor acted in a way that would not
> have had the support of a responsible body of medical opinion..eh?..was
> negligent.

How odd. You mean there are doctors willing to criticise other doctors?
Blimey. Have they been tinkering with that hippopotamus oath again?

> It does happen. Like lawyer negligence. Not all the time, probably not
> most of the time, but it does happen. If the world Iain wants to live in
> is one that allows doctors to practice in that manner without being
> accountable for the lives ruined, while lawyers are ritually
> disembowelled then fine. I hope he gets his movie rights.

[fx: rubs hands with glee]

> Oh, and yes, we do  like to make money. I have always owned up to that
> one. Shame on us. Marketing is something every solicitor in private
> practice these days has to do. Its a real pain.  It just so happens that
> we prefer also acting in cases which brings us the satisfaction of doing
> something challenging, interesting and worthwhile. Now doesn't this
> sound just a little like why Iain might have wanted to become a doctor?

No.

> Or was that just to learn how to disembowel?

A skill I have learned only *since* going into general practice.

> PS. By the way, as a writer on the subject of latex fetishism, Iain will
> be interested to learn that our occupational asthma campaign covers
> cases caused by latex gloves. Latex and heavy breathing. Is this an idea
> for a steamy scene or what?

You *haven't* read my novel, have you?

> PPS I almost forgot. Please copy this and send to the first name at the
> top of the attached list with a completed Legal Aid application form in
> the name of your favourite cartoon character adding your name to the
> foot of the list and in two weeks you will be able to take us over.
>
> Dr Iain Hotchkies
> Virginia Bottomley
> Stephen Dorrell
> Max Clifford
> Graham Ross

hehehe

--
Iain Hotchkies MBChB                 ambition: polymath
                                    currently: jack of all trades
www.hotch.demon.co.uk               corollary: master of none


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