Wednesday - May 16, 2012

FOREIGN DOCTORS WITH MINIMUM LANGUAGE SKILLS

I’m not trying to compete with Drew for the prizewinning moonbat warning award, and while this may not beat his posting of that poor guy who got fired cos he turned in a found gun, this sure does come close if it doesn’t tie.

For some time now there has apparently been quite a problem with foreign doctors working in this country, whose English leaves much to be desired. In fact, there have been reports of doctors who hardly understood the language of the country they were attending to patients in.  There have been some disasters and a promise to do more to vet doctors from other countries more closely.  Now wouldn’t you think that should have been the rule from the get-go?
Hang there ... wait a minute.  This is gonna get sticky. Not so cut and dried as you may think. Remember, this isn’t the USA where we all speak Spanish.
Right. Not funny.

Here’s the headline.

Foreign doctors who can’t speak proper English to be struck off: NHS must check language skills

By JAMES CHAPMAN

Doctors will be struck off if they cannot speak proper English amid fears that patients’ lives are being put at risk, the Health Secretary will say today.

Hospitals and GPs’ surgeries will also be legally obliged to make sure foreign medics have a proper grasp of the language and the way the NHS works.

Andrew Lansley plans to change the rules so doctors found to fall short of the required standards can be permanently barred from practising in this country.

Under the existing system, as many as 23,000 doctors from Europe have registered to work in the NHS despite never having been asked if they can speak English properly.

This gets interesting right about here.

To comply with EU freedom-of-movement requirements, continental doctors and nurses are allowed to work without any formal NHS training.

They can be struck off only if they are found to have harmed patients.

What? So they get to work but the public has to be open to just one mistake. As in a deadly one? Like this?

In one notorious case, pensioner David Gray died after out-of-hours locum Dr Daniel Ubani gave him up to 20 times the recommended amount of diamorphine to treat pain in his kidneys.

The German doctor had failed an English test for one primary care trust, so simply applied to work at another.

(he was German like I’m a rocket scientist. He was NOT German. Does Ubani look like a German word or name? )

UNEDITED AND ALL OF STORY HERE

I only used that article to set the stage. This one is more recent and falls into another category.
Guy visits doctor who happens to be Spanish but.
no entiendo Inglés.  okay I exaggerated a bit the doc may have understood a little but not enough.
Because the doctor reported to authorities that the fellow, who was a bus driver, was also a drunk. But he made NO tests. Nice huh?
So now the patient is out of a job. 

A whole year of hell, thanks to a foreign doctor

By KELVIN MACKENZIE

Last week, I raised the uncomfortable issue of foreign doctors working in this country, and targeted the offensive behaviour of a Spanish consultant. I have since received, and investigated to my satisfaction, an even more shocking case.

Bus driver Kevin Jones, aged 53, turned up with his wife, Samantha, to see Dr Antonio Serrano, a Spaniard, at his surgery in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex.

Mr Jones was suffering pain from swollen legs. Almost immediately, the doctor diagnosed gout and asked how much he drank. He said he might have a pint or two after work and if he went out with his wife and friends at the weekend, a couple of spirits.

When he discovered Mr Jones drove a bus for a living — and had done for 30 years — his attitude changed and, without any research into any kind of alcohol dependency — such as liver or blood tests — he said he would write to the DVLA to have his licence revoked.

Mr Jones told me: ‘This is where the language barrier hit home. He took it that I drank every night, and when I tried to explain, he wouldn’t listen and just spoke over me.’

Several days later, Dr Serrano wrote to the DVLA. Mr Jones asked to see another doctor at the surgery, who agreed to send Mr Jones for blood, liver and kidney tests over a six-week period, all of which showed that Mr Jones was not alcohol dependent.

By now, though, Mr Jones had been signed off sick by his employers, Countryliner.

Astonishingly, without asking for any evidence, the DVLA took the doctor’s word and revoked not only his bus driver’s licence but also his car and motorbike licence.

Mr Jones, who earned £17,000 a year, says: ‘It was a living hell. I could not persuade the DVLA that I was not alcohol dependent, and the only person who could get it revoked was Dr Serrano, who refused to do so.’

By July last year, Mr Jones resigned from the bus company while he battled to clear his name. He had seen other doctors who, although they could not rule out gout, said it was most likely he had arthritis.

READ THE REST OF IT HERE AND THE DOCTOR’S REPLY

Posted by peiper     on 05/16/2012 at 12:59 PM   
Filed Under: • Health-Medicine •  
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