thoughtlessness?

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

I wonder is anyone else noticed the (un)conscious irony of the expressions used in paragrapgs 5 and 6 of this article, given the subject matter.

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3224,36-946486@51-946560,0.html

[Patf]

Yes I certainly did Tag!

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

Thank you patf, I was beginning to think that France consisted of crap songs and nothing else.

Given the controversy above over Abo for Native Australian and the current attitude of most French to foreigners 'of colour' or different origins, I thought this might have brought out the fighting spirit amongst us liberals (British meaning). Apart from your good self, zilch, except for a love of Appa whomsoever they might be.

Or is everyone lying by the pool sipping the grape or the grain with their brains asleep?

PS a paedophile raped a kid the other day. he had been given Viagra by his prison doctor. But it was not mentioned I think.

[Dick Smith]

Apparently the paedophile told the doctor he was interested in a  couple of young girls (that's right) but as soon as he was released abducted an 8-year-old boy. The doctor is now aiding the police...

Story here

here

and here

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

Thanks Dick, I read and heard enough of it over the last few days. What surprises me is that noone on this side wants to discuss the matter or Sarkozy's response.

[Dick Smith]

Well, I'm happy to.

I think the poor doc was on a hiding to nothing because, as he says, he didn't have the criminal's dossier, so how was he to know? But on the other hand, the man's criminal past (by then it was his past) is not a medical matter, according to some lights. So was it a system failure, a human error, or just a mistake caused by other, well-intentioned flawed decisions in a world in which making mistakes is now a criminal offence?

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

Fair comment Dick; was the doctor in the prison the guy came out of or his generalist ( I think that is GP)? If the latter I guess he tried to deal with a patient as best he could. If the former, then very odd.

[5-element]

He WAS the prison doctor.

[Dago]

So if he was the prison doctor then surely he would have known what the guy was in prison for?

[Frenchie]

They NEVER do know why the inmates are there for.

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

Surely their medical dossiers must show health issues related to their incarceration or potential release which means substantial parts of their background including why they are there?

[Iceni]

But my French doctor does not keep a file on me - why should criminals be treated differently by their doctor ?

John

not

[5-element]

Up until now, prison doctors did not have automatic access to medical files of the prison inmates; this is what is being very controversial at the moment. I expect it was seen as confidential, in the same way that previous convictions are not taken into account, or even known about, when someone is in court?

It is still amazing that Viagra was dispensed in that way. It's not even as if it is an innocuous medication, there are lots of contra-indications and not suitable for everyone. .

I wonder if the prison doctor prescribes Viagra routinely for long-term inmates - if he did, that would beg a lot of questions??? Is it considered desirable to be sexually active inside a prison? Is it positively encouraged?

So I assume that he knew the perp was about to be released (pun not intended and not funny in the circumstances) - so he thought it would help him out to reintegrate into normal life?

[Dago]

In this interview with the doctor he says:

"I did not know at all whom I was dealing with. If I had, I would

no doubt have acted differently," the unnamed doctor told the

newspaper, adding that he had no knowledge of the man's criminal

record, and had not asked to see it.

"I hardly ever ask to see the criminal file of inmates I see in

consultations. In almost 15 years of work in prison, I have only done

so once. We don't need that information to treat patients," he added.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1326942007

[woolybanana (ex tag)]

This doctor needs serious retraining.

[5-element]

But you see, they all do, that is the point. Not knowing about the medical history of the guy was considered totally normal, for prisons. So far, it has not been  justified  for the doctor to know his patient's medical file, or what the nature of his "crime" was.

What happened has just shaken this habitual way of dealing with inmates as patients.

 

There are really 2 issues for a prison doctor:

- do you have to know a patient's medical history, or do you just go with today's symptoms?

-  If a patient requests Viagra, complaining of sexual difficulties,  should you  try and find out if the patient is a sex offender, or would that be considered irrelevant?

[Georgina]

Just to go into that story - the child was 5 years old and the same night they put an alert on French tv.  He was found some six- nine hours later.  What a fantastic feeling it was to hear that news the next day after the heartbreak of waiting for news on poor Madeline.  The taxi driver who took him and the boy somewhere recognised the report on the tv. You have got to give it to the powers that be to have responded so quickly in getting the alert out on the tv within hours. Fantastic.  But looking at the photo, he really did look like a monster and with his past history should never have been let out of prison.

Georgina