Can I find a royalty-free photo of a British ambulance? Nope, so this’ll do.
Regular commentator and blogger extraordinaire Mark drew my attention to a recent article on the BBC web site in which it was reported an ambulance man in sunny Liverpool decided that a diabetic woman who collapsed on a bus with a hypo was in fact utterly “drunk” and refused to treat her.
Happily the moronic, cretinous ambulance man in question resigned before he was fired and has since been struck off the register of health professionals. According to the BBC the industrial tribunal ruled that this imbecilic, dozy, twit-trained eejit failed to check the blood sugar level of the woman and then compounded his error by lying to his control room, claiming she was refusing treatment.
The report reminded me of the story a few years ago in which a diabetic commuter on a bus in Leeds was shot by police with a Taser gun. Twice. The subnormal, dopey, doltish, dense underdeveloped brains of the policemen in question thought that the man posed a security threat. Admittedly, the poor man was sweating profusely and clutching a large rucksack not long after the London bombings.
Both you and I know that hypos are not the most pleasant things, but to have that misery compounded by a recalcitrant ambulance man or being shot with a bloody Taser of all things is hardly helpful.
While fortunately, such episodes of subnormal, underdeveloped, brainless, unthinking idiocy are rare it does demonstrate even those who should know better do clearly hate diabetics. Bastards!
I am delighted to see that bussubbing is an international pastime. In 2002 I went down while bussing, and came to while 2 confused paramedics were debating whether my Medic Alert bracelet-text (“DIABETIC ON INSULIN GIVE SUGAR IF CONFUSED”) indicated that I needed insulin or that I needed sugar. Before they could vote, I was fortunately able to croak sweetly and were promptly given a squirt of glucose gel. Maybe paramedics can be avoided altogether if bus drivers are equipped with Lucozade and a Diabetes UK leaflet.
grrrr, this sort of thing makes me so mad. The amount of times I’ve been having a hypo and either ‘professionals’ or members of the public have passed me by muttering the words ‘she must be drunk’. It really gets on my goat! These so called medical professionals, or anyone in the public service, needs better training when it comes to dealing with diabetics!!
The problem I have when out in public is that – being pseudo-Scottish – I am actually pissed out of my head and I hear people whispering amongst themselves “poor guy, he must be having a really bad hypo…” You can’t win!
As we’re all aware, such problems sporadically creep up here in the States. Here it is 2009 and emergency personnel can’t get it right. I sometimes wonder if we should all carry poster boards telling such morons exactly what to do. Then again, knowing our luck it would rain that day… 😉
@Mark Maybe we could have t-shirts printed up saying “I’m fucking diabetic, I’m not fucking drunk” in white lettering over black. That might get the point across?
@Tim You might then be arrested for molesting both diabetics and alcoholic beverages. . .
Oops,
should read “You might then be arrested for molesting diabetics and discriminating against alcoholics. . .”.
Just had my first serious hypo on public transport on Tuesday night.
2.8 at the start of a half hour train journey to Waverly with no food on me.
Thank goodness for that overpriced shop in the station still being open at half nine.
It really is scary that even paramedics may just assume you are drunk when you really need some help.
I like your t-shirt idea, let me know when you start selling them :]
@Tim Nah, it won’t work. You assume they can bloody well read. Damned if we do, damned if we don’t…
Pingback: Diabetic ID | Shoot Up or Put Up