For Christmas, a relative of mine wrapped up a present called Damages. [DVD] .Over January 2009, I have been watching Damages after midnight. You have to watch it after midnight because the story is complex and dark. Anyhow, if anyone wants to catch up on Damages, here is the link to their website.
In summary, Damages is all about the complexities of settlement in legal cases. It revolves around a firm of lawyers. The excellent Glen Close plays the clever but manipulating senior lawyer. The story starts with the adventures of an innocent first year lawyer who believes in justice only to find her beliefs being shattered episode by episode. The script for this series and the storyline is quite amazing. The young lawyer reminds me of younger medics who are initially seen to scream "but, I believe in justice passionately".
When you come across lawyers, you have to remember that justice is rare and if you want it you have got to make it yourself. In the earlier stages of life as a junior doctor, I must say I was failed by many lawyers. The list is endless. Some say it is our past that makes us. And I suppose watching such failings in representation rendered me independent of everyone and everything. That has its advantages in a way. At least, it taught me to pick up a book, read it and do as well as any lawyer. I have never purported to be as good as them but they don't intimidate me anymore. The best bit amuses me is the GMC's usual threat of "costs". The GMC threatens me with costs too often but this often makes me burst into laughter. The last time they threatened it was in 2004, they tried to derail my lawyers who admittedly were nearly derailed until I pushed them both into court - told them to stop being cowards and start fighting like men - and they did.
Even during the last case with the GMC, I was effectively stripped of all my money but I did get the results. It was not until the last phase of the GMC case in 2004 did I understand the nature of tactics and the game I needed to play not only with my own lawyer but the opponents. 2004 taught me a good deal about cutthroat tactics. I played the biggest tactic on the GMC, got myself a larger lawyer than them, told them last minute and wrong footed them in court then watched them squeal and shout at the judge. It was good watching them squeal. It was good watching one of my tactics work and pulling the carpet from underneath them. It was also good knowing that the GMC spends 3 million on lawyers every year approximately but they still couldn't get it right. I was a fast learner in those days - instead of grovelling to them, I started to fight against them. There is a distinct difference. Court room tactics are a bit like chess but you need to be able to read the opponent well.
I won that particular chess game. I don't like playing games anymore and I am only grateful that my last set of lawyers were decent, kind and were one of a rare breed who believed in justice. It has been a long road for me to come across that but I think it is a fitting end my dealings with the legal profession.
In dealing with my previous lawyers, I have found that emotion has no place in tactics. I can play tactics better than any lawyer and I am modest with it but I always find that life needs to be simple, it needs to be how it used to be, it needs to be away from lawyers. During my time with various lawyers, you begin to desert your normal persona, your line between good and bad becomes blurred, you begin to think 10 times faster forward, you begin your tunnel visioned approach and you begin battle. Lawyers have to lose their soul, their ethics, their integrity and their ability to recognize the line between good and bad - that is what you have to do to get paid by the General Medical Council.
So in all the years I have fought for accountability for Ward 87, or for justice I have found that the biggest disappointment was in the General Medical Council. As a student, I had a vision of the GMC being a place where honesty and integrity was upheld. It was far from that of course. I grew up to find that dishonesty and everything that is dark emanated from the Council. I discovered it to be a failure. I suspect we can all accept that malpractice takes place in rogue hospitals like North Staffordshire NHS Trust but what we cannot accept is that there is no accountability for malpractice. Even worse than that is the disappointment that the GMC never acted to protect the junior doctor [ me or anyone else] and instead they sought to shoot the messenger.
If you haven't seen the GMC, you would never believe who they were, how many people lives they end and how many people remain forgotten. Of course, you don't have to kill people to end their lives. The General Medical Council knows this. I am one of the lucky ones, I haven't had my life ended. Others were not so lucky. Others are not going to be so lucky in the future either. To encourage spying the GMC has designed the GMC Affiliates. This is similar to the Three Wise Men where people reported to the GMC. Of course, as a number of doctors are aware there is no law that states that the doctor must be informed of any initial investigation. For instance, an investigation may be continuing for 1 or 2 years at an early stage and no one needs to know about it. That is the initial consideration stage. No one has to believe me. As Liz Miller states, administrative hygiene is all about making Data Protection Act requests every year but even then the GMC are not obliged to give you "everything".
So in summary, I will probably disappear into oblivion in a few years. I cannot imagine myself always writing about the tales of the GMC because they are rather uninspiring really. The General Medical Council will not only have failed a junior doctor [ and I am simply one of many] but far more importantly it would have failed the patients who died . Today, I read a discussion about how important the GMC felt patient safety was. Patient safety is merely a ruse in their armoury. They are words in Finlay Scott's armoury that he uses each time his credibility is under scrutiny.
Slowly but surely, the General Medical Council is tightening its net. The medical profession stands silent and does not challenge it because it does not care and does not know of the implications. It blindly trusts much like a child trusts it's mother. Slowly, the GMC is placing its feelers in all places and with the national database on doctors - soon any uncomfortable doctors will be taken out. The GMC is a regulatory body who carries long term vendettas, carries out long term covert investigations etc. You though have to see it to believe it. Their particular forte is administrative incompetence. This administrative incompetence is unbelievable. Well, it must be because I have already won 2 Presidential Review where legions of administrative errors were admitted. Once this is extrapolated to Revalidation, you simply have a disaster waiting to happen.
Damages as a law firm reminds me of the backroom deals and discussions that take place at the GMC. It reminds me of how everything at the GMC must "look good" because that is how you hide the skeletons in the closet and that is how you stop anyone else from fishing around for the truth. Anyhow, if anyone wants to watch Damages, buy the DVD for Season 1. It is recommended for anyone who thinks justice is justice. It also shows us that the higher you dwell in the social hierarchy, the more corrupt the society becomes. It becomes a way of life where you don't know what is good or bad.
Indeed, Finlay Scott knows what I mean because for him, he has had to evolve into someone who is in the end utterly plastic, who sails in the direction of maximum popularity and will indeed sail on the side of the truth only if it of advantage to him. Scott has no scruples and will sail on the dark side of the stormy seas if he feels it is of advantage to him and the GMC. His lawyers will sail in whatever direction he asks them to because in the end they are paid mouthpieces who deserted their conscience a long time ago.
When you come across lawyers, you have to remember that justice is rare and if you want it you have got to make it yourself. In the earlier stages of life as a junior doctor, I must say I was failed by many lawyers. The list is endless. Some say it is our past that makes us. And I suppose watching such failings in representation rendered me independent of everyone and everything. That has its advantages in a way. At least, it taught me to pick up a book, read it and do as well as any lawyer. I have never purported to be as good as them but they don't intimidate me anymore. The best bit amuses me is the GMC's usual threat of "costs". The GMC threatens me with costs too often but this often makes me burst into laughter. The last time they threatened it was in 2004, they tried to derail my lawyers who admittedly were nearly derailed until I pushed them both into court - told them to stop being cowards and start fighting like men - and they did.
Even during the last case with the GMC, I was effectively stripped of all my money but I did get the results. It was not until the last phase of the GMC case in 2004 did I understand the nature of tactics and the game I needed to play not only with my own lawyer but the opponents. 2004 taught me a good deal about cutthroat tactics. I played the biggest tactic on the GMC, got myself a larger lawyer than them, told them last minute and wrong footed them in court then watched them squeal and shout at the judge. It was good watching them squeal. It was good watching one of my tactics work and pulling the carpet from underneath them. It was also good knowing that the GMC spends 3 million on lawyers every year approximately but they still couldn't get it right. I was a fast learner in those days - instead of grovelling to them, I started to fight against them. There is a distinct difference. Court room tactics are a bit like chess but you need to be able to read the opponent well.
I won that particular chess game. I don't like playing games anymore and I am only grateful that my last set of lawyers were decent, kind and were one of a rare breed who believed in justice. It has been a long road for me to come across that but I think it is a fitting end my dealings with the legal profession.
In dealing with my previous lawyers, I have found that emotion has no place in tactics. I can play tactics better than any lawyer and I am modest with it but I always find that life needs to be simple, it needs to be how it used to be, it needs to be away from lawyers. During my time with various lawyers, you begin to desert your normal persona, your line between good and bad becomes blurred, you begin to think 10 times faster forward, you begin your tunnel visioned approach and you begin battle. Lawyers have to lose their soul, their ethics, their integrity and their ability to recognize the line between good and bad - that is what you have to do to get paid by the General Medical Council.
So in all the years I have fought for accountability for Ward 87, or for justice I have found that the biggest disappointment was in the General Medical Council. As a student, I had a vision of the GMC being a place where honesty and integrity was upheld. It was far from that of course. I grew up to find that dishonesty and everything that is dark emanated from the Council. I discovered it to be a failure. I suspect we can all accept that malpractice takes place in rogue hospitals like North Staffordshire NHS Trust but what we cannot accept is that there is no accountability for malpractice. Even worse than that is the disappointment that the GMC never acted to protect the junior doctor [ me or anyone else] and instead they sought to shoot the messenger.
If you haven't seen the GMC, you would never believe who they were, how many people lives they end and how many people remain forgotten. Of course, you don't have to kill people to end their lives. The General Medical Council knows this. I am one of the lucky ones, I haven't had my life ended. Others were not so lucky. Others are not going to be so lucky in the future either. To encourage spying the GMC has designed the GMC Affiliates. This is similar to the Three Wise Men where people reported to the GMC. Of course, as a number of doctors are aware there is no law that states that the doctor must be informed of any initial investigation. For instance, an investigation may be continuing for 1 or 2 years at an early stage and no one needs to know about it. That is the initial consideration stage. No one has to believe me. As Liz Miller states, administrative hygiene is all about making Data Protection Act requests every year but even then the GMC are not obliged to give you "everything".
So in summary, I will probably disappear into oblivion in a few years. I cannot imagine myself always writing about the tales of the GMC because they are rather uninspiring really. The General Medical Council will not only have failed a junior doctor [ and I am simply one of many] but far more importantly it would have failed the patients who died . Today, I read a discussion about how important the GMC felt patient safety was. Patient safety is merely a ruse in their armoury. They are words in Finlay Scott's armoury that he uses each time his credibility is under scrutiny.
Slowly but surely, the General Medical Council is tightening its net. The medical profession stands silent and does not challenge it because it does not care and does not know of the implications. It blindly trusts much like a child trusts it's mother. Slowly, the GMC is placing its feelers in all places and with the national database on doctors - soon any uncomfortable doctors will be taken out. The GMC is a regulatory body who carries long term vendettas, carries out long term covert investigations etc. You though have to see it to believe it. Their particular forte is administrative incompetence. This administrative incompetence is unbelievable. Well, it must be because I have already won 2 Presidential Review where legions of administrative errors were admitted. Once this is extrapolated to Revalidation, you simply have a disaster waiting to happen.
Damages as a law firm reminds me of the backroom deals and discussions that take place at the GMC. It reminds me of how everything at the GMC must "look good" because that is how you hide the skeletons in the closet and that is how you stop anyone else from fishing around for the truth. Anyhow, if anyone wants to watch Damages, buy the DVD for Season 1. It is recommended for anyone who thinks justice is justice. It also shows us that the higher you dwell in the social hierarchy, the more corrupt the society becomes. It becomes a way of life where you don't know what is good or bad.
Indeed, Finlay Scott knows what I mean because for him, he has had to evolve into someone who is in the end utterly plastic, who sails in the direction of maximum popularity and will indeed sail on the side of the truth only if it of advantage to him. Scott has no scruples and will sail on the dark side of the stormy seas if he feels it is of advantage to him and the GMC. His lawyers will sail in whatever direction he asks them to because in the end they are paid mouthpieces who deserted their conscience a long time ago.
4 comments:
Much truth spoken there, well done. The fact that the new council members haven't forced a completely new start by immediately getting rid of Catto and his corrupt ways shows that the GMC are still incapable of true integrity.
Catto's corrupt ways? The evidence should be placed on the internet on those
The evidence is all over the internet. It takes a particularly blind and ignorant person not to see it: take a GMC employee for example, or even Catto and his pompous self (who, incidentally, if it was up to the public rather than doctors would have been sacked long ago).What do you want, blood ? That can't be posted online but you can be sure there is blood on Catto's hands. Blood and shit.
I have to say that now I view the GMC as the dark side of the force, its members as Sith Lords, and its tentacles as bad as the Emperor himself
They are vicious little ferrets, and brainless prawns with sharp claws
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