Medics ignore their own guidelines
Mar 12, 2009
Bishop Hill in Health, Nanny state

The Longrider is not impressed with the latest bout of bansturbation from the medical profession.

It seems barely a day passes without someone – frequently a medic – thinking that it is their place to tell us how to live our lives.

How right he is. They are a blight on society, are they not? Today's frenzy of bansturbatory frottage is all about chocolate and obesity and whether proles can make decisions about calorific intake without a team of doctors and nurse practitioners being on hand.

Why, I thought, do these grossly-overpaid people waste their time on ephemera like the diet of the general public. Haven't they got better things to do?

Well, here's what they should be doing, according to the General Medical Council. A few excerpts:

Treat patients as individuals and respect their dignity

It's hard to see how they square this with blanket bans on smoking, taxes on things they deem bad and so on. Perhaps these words mean something different to people earning £100k a year.

Listen to patients and respond to their concerns and preferences

So taxing chocolate counts as "responding to patients' preferences" does it? Or perhaps doctors just feel they can ignore the GMC?

Respect patients' right to reach decisions with you about their treatment and care

They seem to be ignoring this one too.

Support patients in caring for themselves to improve and maintain their health

But if they won't listen, just give 'em the treatment anyway eh? Make 'em do as they're told. After all, they're proles.

Never abuse your patients' trust in you or the public's trust in the profession.

What trust is that?

 

 

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