Not exactly medical journalism

Posted on 13th February, 2011 by Indigo Jo:

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: I don’t think this programme did the subject justice. Admittedly, there is only so much you can fit into a documentary running to just under 30 minutes, which is the BBC’s fault, not the producers’, but it was a bit short on medical details which might have given the reader a clearer picture as to why Lynn Gilderdale got to the point where she felt she had to take her own life.

Some of Lynn’s complications were mentioned, as well as the fact that she was in pain (hence the morphine), but there was no reference to the recurrent medical disasters (such as the incident in 2005 where her lung was punctured and an artery nicked, causing serious internal bleeding and leaving her on life support, during a routine operation to replace a Hickman line, which as Lynn reported herself, was allowed to get that bad because the doctor would not listen when she said she could not breathe properly and was in pain) or to the abusive treatment she had received as an in-patient in 1992, which left her with a lifelong fear of doctors and hospitals.

Nor did it mention how ME itself affects people, other than by causing them pain; the complications that were mentioned in Lynn, such as adrenal and ovarian failure, are unusual. Read more>>