Sauron.

“IT also shows (once again) that the US military values it’s members enough to put in the effort and takes the risks necessary to conduct such rescues. “

In this case, yes, it is true. But remember the Americans abandoned Vietnam without a full accounting of their missing personnel.

“I also think people in the US are just as aware as you are that the folks who rescued her are the real ‘heros’. It dosn’t cost anything extra to call her a hero considering what she went through.”

And there you may have a point. I know I wouldn’t like to have spent the last nine days in Jessica’s position.

Regards

kev35

Re: Jessica Lynch

Hi, Dave.

“Although Im glad for Jessia and her family that she was rescued,”

Indeed, we should all be. She is a servicewoman who placed herself in harms way at the request of her Government. It can only be a good thing that she was rescued and is returning home.

“but why do the American press need to make such a big deal out of it by calling her a hero.”

A campaign that has not gone as envisaged from its political inception to it’s eventual military end, the capture of Americans, the loss of military equipment, escalating losses and the increase in friendly fire incidents? A good news story to counteract any one of the above.

“Her unit took a wrong turn and was captured by Iraqi soldiers, she sustained a broken arm and two broken legs and while being held prisoner was more than likely scared sh*tless, and now shes probably seroiusly traumatised, so what the hell did she do that was so heroic, the “heros” are the guys who got her out.”

The traditional definition of heroism applies to those involved in her rescue. But, maybe, the term can be applied to Jessica as she’s spent her time as a prisoner alone, afraid and feeling abandoned, yet she has managed to stay alive. It is possible many people in that situation would have given up and succumbed to their injuries.

Regards,

kev35

Seb.

Somehow I knew you would say something like that. Thank you for your concern and your eloquence. We have to believe that the majority of the French people feel as you do. But, in the sad event that this is to become a frequent occurrence, I strongly suggest we return to France and bring our dead home.

Regards,

kev35

Mongu,

perhaps you are right, I could have phrased my point about junior doctors a little more delicately. Medicine is an area in which you can do as much book learning as you like but the junior doctors are unleashed on the public with the knowledge but not the experience to put it all into practice. I agree the hours are too long, but the juniors do have a safety net. Above them they have Senior House Officers, Registrars and then the Consultant in charge of their team. Junior doctors do literally have to be wet nursed through their first few weeks. They have the knowledge but not the interpersonal skills, the practical skills, the dexterity and in many cases the emotional maturity to cope with their every day work load. I think this is true of medicine more than any other profession.

Your analogy of a First officer doesn’t really work when applied to medicine. It appears that being a junior doctor in the NHS would be akin to someone who’s just passed their PPL being made captain of a 747.

Regards,

kev35

Hi, Mongu.

“The trouble is, if a manager really knows how the NHS works, he/she is likely to be institutionalised and therefore not the best person to move the organisation forward.”

To effectively manage a unit, a speciality in the NHS, that manager cannot do the job well without a sound knowledge of the particular requirements of that speciality, hence the incident I described. The catering manager has a catering background, the financial manager has a financial background, the human resources manager has a background in human resources. But the medical services manager, the most important in the terms of how care is given, can tell you everything you need to know about steel stockholding. Really useful to the people at the forefront of the job who have to cope with unrealistic demands. See the obvious discrepancy? In this case the knowledge which Mongu’s ‘institutionalisation’ brings to the situation is invaluable.

“Certainly, part of it is that doctors have to sort their profession out.
Junior doctors are treated unprofessionally – low pay and unrealistic hours. But for some reason, doctors, as a profession, do not want this to change because it would erode the position of the minority of really senior doctors who get money shoved at them and work shorter hours.”

Junior doctors are rarely professional when they hit the wards. The analogy here is that when you’ve passed your driving test, that is when you really start to learn. The same thing applies to doctors. The hours are unrealistic but observing junior doctors as they face the challenge of adapting to these hours provides a clear insight as to who is going to make the grade. It is in that first six to twelve months decisions are made which will guide the junior doctor through the rest of their career. Their aim is to be a Consultant by the time they are 40. Those that make it are almost guaranteed to make £150 – 200,000 per year for the next twenty years. As for eroding the position of senior doctors if the juniors worked shorter hours, I don’t think that would happen, at least not to consultants and probably not to registrars.

“Why not a lawyer, accountant or banker? Their medical knowledge is not the same obviously, but maybe their ability to effectively run an organisation is better. If they really ARE high calibre professionals, they will not micro manage or endanger clinical needs by meddling.”

It seems the policy of the NHS is to micro manage. Remember the manager of linen supplies? The one who had two assistant managers, one for sheets, one for pillow cases and over blankets. The real joke there being that the two assistants were paid more than a senior staff nurse.

“Despite whining about “overpaid” NHS managers, how would you compare their pay to that of your average solicitor, chartered accountant or bank manager? Not too well, is the answer. “

That is not the comparison which people in the NHS would make. They would look at the salary of managers and compare that to the ludicrous (in comparative terms) pay which a ward sister is paid who is held accountable for her actions. This is not the case with NHS managers. A transgression by a senior manager usually means they are offered a considerable financial inducement to leave. A ward sister would be dismissed, likely lose her PIN number and as a result of that be unable to work in the profession again. There is no eaquality in treatment there.

Mongu, it’s over to you….

Regards,

kev35