A Beautiful but Distracted Sequel

I was very interested to hear today on the news that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE to you and me) is requesting that doctors are more careful when prescribing Ritalin for newly diagnosed cases of ADHD. It seems that this particular government agency has realised this reliance on Ritalin is too widespread among the medical profession – at last!!!! I wonder if they read my blog on the subject  

However, it’s advice that alternative therapies should be sought in all but the most severe cases is all well and good as long as the support is available out there. Given the sad history of so called Care in the Community in this country – willing but drastically under-resourced, we will have to reserve judgement for now. A number of parents have told me they only need to resort to the medication at school, because they have found strategies to work with their children with ADHD at weekends. 

Certainly there has been some worried parents in the media today thinking that the Ritalin treatment which has worked for their children will be withdrawn. Hopefully, there will be enough backup to support them – Ritalin or not. Perhaps it should be targeted at teachers too!!!

Knock, Knock Warnock

Lady Warnock has won great respect for her work in medical ethics, but she has certainly stirred up an awful hornet’s nest with her recent comments about the burden placed on society by Alzheimer’s patients. She said they have a duty to die, as they place too many demands on their carers.

It’s true that we have a funding crisis, and no one would wish to have dementia, but she is going too far here. Baroness Warnock is using her media access to advocate the awful course of eugenics. If the cared for person desperately wishes not to deteriorate and can make a living will, yes, then possibly they can ask for their life to be ended if they wish to not deteriorate beyond a certain level they themselves define. However – no one should make that decision for the person, especially if they are incapable of doing it themselves.

We all know that if decisions are taken for people with Alzheimer’s disease it won’t stop there, don’t we?!!!

The Perils of Self-Infliction

After having been drenched by numerous intense downpours this week, I am very aware of the drawbacks of living in wonderful scenic Swansea. Childhood memories of the Water Cycle, sea-evaporation-clouds-hills-rain are not quite true because the rain never makes it to the hills round here – maybe its just tired – but it should make it more than a mile inland surely???

Anyway, I was musing that in some way my regular wettings under torrential rain could be self-inflicted by my love of living in Swansea!

This has some relevance with news this week that some medics in our troubled and over-stretched Hospital Accident and Emergency Departments are considering charging certain individuals for treatment. This is a radical departure for the National Health Service, charging people at the point of need, but the problem has reached epidemic proportions. The cause are those young people that choose to imbibe so much alcohol that they experience medical problems, clogging up emergency rooms with the consequences of binge drinking. The medics have a point, their resources should be given to non-self inflicted injury!

However, if this principle of self-infliction is taken to its logical end, surely individuals who experience the onset of Type 2 diabetes because of bad lifestyle choices, lack of exercise and the wrong food may also be subject to charges because of self-infliction! Its just a thought…