Shocking Documentary

[securespark]

I have just watched 'The Hospital' on C4. I am hugely shocked on two levels:

1. 30% of what goes through one hospitals doors is alcohol-related in some way or other.

There needs to be huge price increases on alcohol now, with the revenue used to pay for the treatment of injuries sustained by the use (or abuse) of alcohol.


2. The other shocking thing is how the people, having recovered from their injuries, laughed it all off.

The passenger injured when a car driven by a "mate" who was over the limit crashed. Still drinking with said "mate" and joking about a 20K payout.

The woman knocked over while trying to cross the road, when interviewed about it said, "Well, the night cost me nowt. I borrowed the £20 and I even got a free ride to hospital..."

Am I alone in my disgust?

 

[bhm1712]

your not alone with disgust, but im not with you on your solutions!

how about instead of penalising responsible drinkers by increasing prices, why not charge people for treatment who have used the NHS for alcohol abuse related injuries.

id be disgusted if the price of my weekly couple of pints went up to cover the cost of someone elses hospital treatment because they dont know when they have had enough.

 

[libby lou lou]

lt's Llfe today, get used to lt, lf you can't beat e'm.................

 

[bhm1712]

OK so alcohol related stuff is 30% whats the other 70?

 

[nickso]

slips trips and falls are the biggest A+E admission iirc, dunno about hospital in general, probabaly MRSA.

im wholly against the blanket taxation of a section of people doing what they want to legally. i would happily pay a premium at the hospital door if it meant no knee jerk tax, again.

 

[WDIK]

I pay thousands a year to support the weak and the poor.
but i pay more to stay alive via private medicine.

 

[ColJack]

met an ambulance driver in the chippy one friday night as they stopped for a quick bag, got chatting..


he said he hated friday and saturday nights because of all the P.U.F.O. calls they got..

asked him what P.U.F.O. stood for... "Pi**ed Up, Fell Over" came the reply....

im wholly against the blanket taxation of a section of people doing what they want to legally. i would happily pay a premium at the hospital door if it meant no knee jerk tax, again.

so if you were admited to hospital with alcohol related injuries, you'd be happy to have to foot the several thousand pounds medical bill?

instead of 10-15p on a pint of beer?

 

[bhm1712]

yes i would

if you drink responsibly, you dont fall over and injure yourself full stop.

there is a difference between enjoying yourself on a night out drunk, and being absolutely out of your head that you cant even walk. if you want to drink to that extent then you should be ready to accept the consequences if you really cant enjoy yourself without being blotto

its no different than speeding, if you speed then you should be ready to accept the fine and points if you do get caught without moaning and groaning. most of us do it, and seem suprised when we get caught!

its all about actions and consequence.

deary me i start to sound like me grandma!

 

[Estrella]

yes i would

if you drink responsibly, you dont fall over and injure yourself full stop.

there is a difference between enjoying yourself on a night out drunk, and being absolutely out of your head that you cant even walk. if you want to drink to that extent then you should be ready to accept the consequences if you really cant enjoy yourself without being blotto

its no different than speeding, if you speed then you should be ready to accept the fine and points if you do get caught without moaning and groaning. most of us do it, and seem suprised when we get caught!

its all about actions and consequence.

deary me i start to sound like me grandma!

Couldn't have said it better myself!

Jack Daniels is already £20 a bottle, how much more expensive do you want it

 

[ColJack]

the problem with your logic is that...

1. speeding is illegal, drinking yourself into a coma isn't..
2. you may not be the cause of your accident, but if you're over a certain alcohol limit you would be classed as drunk and charged for the medical care anyway..

some guy runs you over, they'll just say you were drunk and walked out in front of him.. etc..
broken nose and a few busted ribs because you got jumped on the way home.. well you've been drinking so maybe it wasn't a one sided fight... etc..

 

[bhm1712]

i maybe drink 5 pints in a normal week, and on a night out maybe 7 pints, even just ten pence on a pint would make my monthly spend 4.80 more, doesnt sound much, but over a year its what, almost 60 quid, and thats only if i stuck to 5 a week and 7 on a night out. for some people 60 quid isnt just like 2 pence.im not saying its going to break the bank, its just the principle that its 60 quid extra i shouldn't have to spend to foot the bill of some fools broken nose after a drunken fight.

 

[bhm1712]

i think common sense needs to prevail here.....there is a fine line of what would be alcohol abuse related stuff and not.

its not the point that speeding is illegal or not,it was just an example of action and consequence, its the fact that if you do it, and get caught you should accept that you got done. if you got charged for medical treatment for an injury after being drunk and disorderely, you should accept that you crossed your limits and got penalised for it.

 

[Brightness]

Not all alcohol related injuries are down to that person drinking if you get my drift.

A couple of years ago my son and his mates were at a festival & a load of p*ssed up morons came and dragged my very sober son out of his tent and battered him for no reason - he was sleeping at the time.

He was carried to the hospital tent by some guys in neighbouring tents who saw what had happened & waited five hours to be seen - in the end his mates just grabbed their gear, abandoned their tents as they couldn't get everything into two cars (some had gone by train) and drove him home.

At 7.30am I was woken by them knocking on the door in a right state and I took my son straight to casualty. The doctors and nurses were fantastic and could not believe his injuries and the fact he'd had to wait so long to be seen in said hospital tent.

Police on site had taken loads of witness statements and my son was given a breath test which was completely negative. Culprits were never caught of course even though they'd apparently done same thing to four other lads that night and someone had taken pics of them on a camera phone.

I am just glad that my son is still here and that his mates had the sense to bring him home so that I could get him to hospital. If necessary I would have paid for his treatment as most of us who have kids would do anything for them (even though he was an innocent victim) but if they were to start charging then each case should be judged by individual merit.

Also, going back a few years now but I had been out for a meal with the hubby and had a few glasses of wine. On the way home, some moron threw a bottle from an upstairs window and it hit the floor in front of me, smahed & sliced my big toe open. Hubby took me to casualty to get it sorted, so if all alcohol related incidents were charged I'd also have had to pay for that when I just happened to be walking down the street. Seems a bit unfair really

 

[securespark]

Whichever system you choose someone will find it unfair. Unless we adopt the US way (either you have medical insurance or you don't get treatment), there doesn't seem to be an entirely fair way to do it.

It's no good charging people at the P.O.D for treatment. If you have a ****ed-up skint person, you can't exactly bill them, can you?

Maybe the US way is the right approach (for alcohol-related injuries).

 

[noseall]

There needs to be huge price increases on alcohol now, with the revenue used to pay for the treatment of injuries sustained by the use (or abuse) of alcohol.

And once the prices reach a level that is totally unrealistic and completely unaffordable, people will set up stills or any other alcohol producing apparatus, thus denying the gov't any dosh whatsoever.

Then you will be left with a lot of sick people and no dosh.

Politics .