----- Original Message -----
From: "Taj Hassan"
> 3) I was particularly careful in my wording of what
> 'the mother' would have got and what one might want!
> We know there is a certain degree of courtesy
> (?preference) shown to hospital staff, their families
> and 'VIPs'. It might just be seeing them more
> quickly,getting them a bit of urgent physio or
> arranging an urgent angiogram...I am sure we have seen
> all of the above. That is THE REAL WORLD.
> I therefore find Adrian Fogarty's high moralistic
> stance and comments a little harsh.
Apart from your wording I was intrigued about the meaning of your comments.
Did your comments imply some of us expect special treatment for our
relatives that we deny "ordinary" patients, or that you expect special
treatment for your relatives which others don't receive? Or did you simply
use this turn of phrase to emphasize your vision of ideal management? Either
way it was an unfortunate phrase to use; after all, virtually all of our
debate on this List could be distilled down to "what would you do for your
mother". In theory this should make no difference to our management (we
should be doing our best for all patients) but this style of argument is
rather facile, it leads to woolly thinking and emotive conclusions, and
should have no place in academic debate.
> No need to shoot the messenger though...or more
> particularly be offensive in the actual language
> used... although from my reading of the board that
> seems to be his nature!!
My nature is to use language accurately, and yes I am known to use tough
language for tough situations, but people are rarely offended by this!
Adrian Fogarty
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