Casualty gets it wrong again

[Northerner]

I just missed the very start of Casualty last night so have just checked out what I missed. When I switched on Adam was just telling a young lad they would have to cut his feet off (obviously went to the Diabetes School for the Uncaring). What had actually occurred was that he was a Type 1 diabetic who had been 'seen four times this year with a hypo'. Adam then goes on to describe the possible consequences of a HIGH blood sugar i.e. necrosis of the extremities, hence the foot-chopping comments trying to scare the lad into checking his levels...

The trouble is, is that the long-term consequences of high blood sugar doesn't have the same dramatic impact as someone collapsing from a hypo, so the hypo is given as the reason for the boy being in hospital. But I wonder if the writer played with the facts, despite knowing it, to make the storyline work - or if the writer was ignorant of the facts and just making something up from half-remembered knowledge?

Its right at the beginning here, in case you missed it:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012fbt0/Casualty_Series_25_Rogue/

🙄😱

 

[FM001]

Silly story and it just wouldn't happen in the real world, fair do's Adam was just trying to scare the boy but taking out surgical instruments as if to cut his leg off was really ridiculous.

 

[Northerner]

Silly story and it just wouldn't happen in the real world, fair do's Adam was just trying to scare the boy but taking out surgical instruments as if to cut his leg off was really ridiculous.

Yes, I thought it was pretty awful. Although he apologised later in the programme to the boy, the apology was made to seem grudging, as though he hadn't really done the wrong thing.

 

[FM001]

Yes, I thought it was pretty awful. Although he apologised later in the programme to the boy, the apology was made to seem grudging, as though he hadn't really done the wrong thing.

In reality he would be struck off and Dr Lyons would be severely disciplined, why does Casualty have to include such stupid story lines, they could have sent out a better message on the importance of testing by some other means.

 

[KateXXXXXX]

Far better to have emphasized the short term consequences of hypos, balanced later by the consequences of consistent highs...

Yes, with poor control, long term (as in years!) bits can go black and drop off, and with shorter term total neglect you can die, but ithat takes several weeks, and you have to be pretty determined for it not to be caught and treated. But severe hypos can lead to fitting, coma, and death within a day or two. Isn't that dramatic enough?

 

[Jennywren]

Doctors do actually speak like this , in 96 when my poor old dad was very ill a doctor in front of my mum actually told him if he continued to smoke his feet would end up in a bucket !!! soon after my dad had to have both his legs amputated and died a few days after surgery

 

[Flutterby]

yeah this story line annoyed me too and I'm an avid fan! Shock horror - Mind you it's all meant to demonstrate how Adam is losing the plot I suppose..........

 

[Flutterby]

Doctors do actually speak like this , in 96 when my poor old dad was very ill a doctor in front of my mum actually told him if he continued to smoke his feet would end up in a bucket !!! soon after my dad had to have both his legs amputated and died a few days after surgery

That's awful Jenny, horrible doctor.

I had one tell me (after I'd been admitted with ketoacidosis due to a chest infection messing my levels up) that x ammount of people die as a result of being in the state I was when admitted! Yeah like I didn't already know that and had done everything in my power to avoid admission.....some doctors need a taste of their own medicine.

 

[KateXXXXXX]

I think we must be really lucky. No-one has ever told either of my two that if they didn't do whatever, they might loose bits: it's all been more along the lines of 'We are going to do our best to ensure you get to 90+ WITHOUT losing bits on the way, and this is how... '

My father's stepmother, diagnosed back in the 20's, when she was about 19, was a smoker all her life and did lose her sight (and one eye completely), and both legs, eventualy. She was still over 80 when she finally went, at about the same age my mum was when she went at Christmas, without the complications of being a heavy smoker with diabetes. I dare say Mum's last few years were more comfortable than Laura's, and she was certainly more independant right up to the end, but despite everything, Laura retained the acid tongue and the disposition of a thrawn old witch to the end!

I DID get told by the doc several years ago after a particularly horrific hypo Mutley had that I had done exactly right to call 999 and get him help ASAP, as he'd been low enough to be fitting, and that was dangerous.

On the whole, the medics of all flavours we've had to deal with over the diabetes have been helpful and pleasant on all occasions, and particularly sympathetic to the GMNT.

 

[Northerner]

That's been my experience too Kate 🙂 I'd never really thought about it before I was diagnosed because I never came into contact with hospitals much (except when breaking arm, one day, and breaking leg, one week but in a Swedish hospital). Now that I've had so much more contact Casualty seems more and more removed from any semblance of reality each time I watch it! 😱

 

[Ellie Jones]

But casualty is a fantasy program not a documentry...

It's not supposed to go into great detail or depth when it comes to verious medical conditions... Just a brief overview in that context they really didn't say anything wrong...

I really don't see what all the fuss is about

 

[Northerner]

But casualty is a fantasy program not a documentry...

It's not supposed to go into great detail or depth when it comes to verious medical conditions... Just a brief overview in that context they really didn't say anything wrong...

I really don't see what all the fuss is about

I do see that Ellie, but there used to be a time when such dramas used to pride themselves on their technical accuracy. I'm also convinced the storylines are becoming more and more ludicrous!

 

[Northerner]

p.s. I get just as annoyed at programmes with ludicrous 'computer' based themes 😉

 

[Flutterby]

I think the thing is that other people think Casualty and other such programs are based in reality and then say to you "oh yeah - you'll lose your feet if you go hypo" or some such gem. I actually had someone ask me if, when I had my stroke, my head went all sort of on fire like the advert...........look I know my hair is sometimes a mess but I don't have a singed head!

 

[SusieGriff]

I just can't watch it. It makes me squirm it's so naff!!! I used to work in a hospital and it wouldn't happen. people don't talk like that to each other in that way. (well, when I was a nurse anyway in the 80's/90's)

 

[AlisonM]

I've spent more time in A&E over the past three years than in the whole 50 odd years before that (five times now) and I've given up watching Casualty because I get so het up watching all the mistakes. I know it's fiction, but could they not at least try to get the basic facts right? It's not as though a fact or two would make the story less exciting. IMNVHO.

 

[FM001]

Casualty was originally intended to reflect life in a typical A & E department, but I suppose as the years roll on they run out of interesting story lines and to keep the interest of the viewer up they resort to ridiculous plots and even more ridiculous characters - the Consultant called Stitch was one of them around 5 years ago.

 

[newbs]

The trouble is that some people out there take these programmes very seriously - like they watch the soaps and believe that the characters are real rather than people playing them.

Holby got hypo/hyperthyroidism mixed up the other day, the person had the symptoms of hypothyroidism but was diagnosed with hyperthyroidsm. I do think they should get basic facts right.

 

[Northerner]

Indeed, fictional or not, there may be people watching who go on to confuse symptoms after watching the programme, with potentially bad consequences. How many times did we used to hear about people seeking help because they recognised their symptoms being described on a tv drama? The doctors would be completely puzzled these days! 😱