A Surgical Shambles

I was absolutely disgusted when I read this article outlining the circumstances under which a young child had the wrong kidney removed by a team of imbeciles in Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children in Crumlin, Dublin. The fact that the child's parents repeatedly sought assurances that the correct procedure would be carried out makes this case all the more disturbing.

The two clowns primarily responsible for this surgical fiasco are the subject of a medical council investigation. Undoubtedly this will result in some form of a rap on the knuckles for these morons before they are released to butcher their next victim in Our Lady's or some other hospital.

This type of thing happens way too often in this country. The medical profession (especially consultants) have something of a god complex. They resent the little people questioning their divine wisdom. God forbid that we should want to be sure that they get it right, it's only our lives that are at stake. For too long we pixie Irish have buttoned our lips for fear of upsetting some overpaid surgical wanker. For too long we haven't questioned a diagnosis. For too long we have taken the word of a doctor to be gospel. Well no more. I would urge anyone with any degree of doubt about a medical issue to seek reassurance from their doctor. If you are not happy - ask again. If they don't like it - tough shit. If they are about to jeopardise your life or the life of your child you have a right to be somewhat wary.

As long as we are relying on poxy medical council investigations or the awarding of a few quid in compensatory damages by an unjust court system we will never see any real improvement in the behaviour of the upper echelons of the medical profession. And we can't rely on the likes of the Minister for Health and Cream Cakes, Fat Mary Harney, or her fellow aristocrats in the Dáil to give a damn about justice or the rights of the ordinary citizen. Maybe we should be playing punchy facey with those careless consultant bastards if they commit such gross acts of carelessness against their patients. Under the punchy facey system of medical justice we'll take the first, second and third turns - we'll let the consultants overcharge each other to get their faces fixed up when we've finished the "game".

It's all a load of greek!

There can be little argument that Greece is the economic basket case of Europe. Years of creative accounting, corruption and waste have seen to that. But we poor pixie Irish seem to think that we have been spared the consequences of the full Greek tragedy after our recent economic misadventures. Every time I turn on the radio there seems to be some gobshite of an economic analyst saying "well at least we're not like Greece" or "we took action early so we won't end up like the Greeks" - UTTER CRAP.

Have no doubt, this country is still in the shitter! Our deficit for 2009 was a staggering 14.3%. This figure is the highest in Europe and illustrates the trouble we are in. Granted, some of this is to do with the fact that the eurocrats have changed their minds and reclassified €4 billion worth of Anglo Irish bailout money as part of the deficit. We passed the Lisbon Treaty so they no longer need to keep us sweet by turning blind eyes to our €4 billion economic funderland.

Most of us seem content in our naive belief that last year's budget saw the worst of the financial cutbacks. However, given the state of the public finances we are surely in for even more hardship. Especially since the government seems likely to bend over and take yet another rogering from the unions by delaying the implementation of some of the reforms to our ridiculous public service pension system.

The recent announcement of a European support fund to prevent a repeat of the Greek crisis will only bring the onset of badly needed economic reforms a step closer for poor fools like us pixie Irish. The likes of Germany and France will (justifiably) want to make sure that their fellow Europeans get their economic houses in order in return for stumping up much of this €750 billion pot of gold. Countries like Ireland will, therefore, need to engage in a series of more violent belt-tightening exercises in the near future.

Maybe an intervention from our European overlords is just what we need. It's not like our current government are capable of providing us with brave leadership. They continue to bow to the unions and they refuse to make meaningful reforms to our wasteful and parochial system of government. And it's not like their opposition in the Dáil will do much better. On Today FM's Last Word programme the Funny Gael spokesperson for Rural Affairs and Muck Savagery, Michael 'PainInThe' Ring, outlined Enda de road Kenny's immediate priority once he assumes power. So would it be the winding up of Anglo Irish Bank, tackling the wasteful public service or maybe the seizure of Michael Fingleton's millions? Ah no - Enda de road's number one priority would be to allocate millions of euro to be spent upgrading the N5 national road so that he could travel back home to the bog in comfort. Nice one Enda - a shining example of your complete incapacity to lead this country.

So this lunchtime as you head into Starbucks and order your venti caramel macchiato because you think that things are on the up and, after all, you're worth it - remember this: There is an economic canon being built in Europe and whether your name is Stelios or Séamus it will soon be aimed at you!