Say hello to Ellie-May Clark, right. Say goodbye, too — she’s dead.

What’d she die of?

Asthma, but her mother is blaming her final expiration (from lack of respiration) on a doctor that wouldn’t see the girl, because mom brought her in four minutes later than promised.

A critically ill little girl died hours after a GP refused to see her because she turned up a few minutes late for an emergency appointment.

Wait, “emergency appointment”? That’s one of several indicators that this story’s likely to be a little one-sided.

Astonishingly, the doctor is still practising after escaping with a ‘slap on the wrist’ at a secret disciplinary hearing.

Ellie-May Clark, five, died of an asthma attack after Dr Joanne Rowe refused to see her – despite having previously been warned the girl was at risk of suffering a life-threatening seizure.

via Girl, 5, died of asthma attack after GP refused to see her | Daily Mail Online.

The late (no pun intended) Ellie-May seems to have deserved better of both her doctor and her mother. However, the Daily Mail, the perpetrators of that unexplained “emergency appointment” phrasing, claim to have found an damning official document:

It concluded that:

  • The ‘root cause’ of the girl’s death was Dr Rowe’s refusal to see her;
  • The GP turned Ellie-May away without asking a single question about the girl’s condition;
  • Months earlier, a paediatrician had written to Dr Rowe warning that Ellie-May was ‘at risk of another life-threatening asthma attack’;
  • Staff were ‘fearful’ of questioning Dr Rowe because of her ‘repeated angry outbursts’ and ‘volatile’ nature;
  • Minutes after the Clarks went home, another GP questioned why Dr Rowe had turned them away.
  • Dr Rowe claimed to have been ‘in the middle’ of seeing a patient when Ellie-May arrived, but the surgery’s computer system showed that was not the case.

Dr Rowe, 53, was suspended for six months on full pay after Ellie-May’s death in Newport, South Wales in January 2015.

As the terminology (GP, NHS) probably has cued you, this happened in Wales, where guns are pretty much outlawed. But hey, who needs guns when you’ve got the National Health? It’s a bureaucracy, and bureaucracies protect their own, no matter who they’ve got to whack to do it.

But they did come up with a typically reasonable, British, face-saving solution for all concerned: Dr Rowe was made to sign a promise “not to do it again.” And that makes us wonder, “do it,” do what? Kill another patient?

This entry was posted in When Guns Are Outlawed… on by Hognose.

About Hognose

Former Special Forces 11B2S, later 18B, weapons man. (Also served in intelligence and operations jobs in SF).

17 thoughts on “When Guns are Outlawed, Only Outlaws will have Clockwatching Doctors

Jake Bell

Paul Krugman says that this has never happened, and since he works for the New York Times, and they had an add during the oscars saying they were telling the truth, then this is fake news.

Don’t laugh, there are a great number of people who think like this. It’s kind of pathetic really.

Aesop

As ever, the miracle is not that NHS killed a sick little girl. That’s what it’s designed to do, ultimately.

The miracle is that they haven’t killed everyone.

Steve M.

Exactly. This is what state run healthcare gets you. A little kid dies and some guy gets $70,000 bionic junk. England ain’t what it used to be.

Haxo Angmark

most significant: death doctorette got a 6-month paid vacation for murdering this child. Socialism in its purest form.

DSM

I had a thought this happened in the UK when I read the headline.

Badger

.Guv-run – I think in law enforcement they call that a clue.

Every vet who gets their little form in the mail that certifies that, because they’re enrolled with the VA, they get to check the tax return box that says they’ve had an .Gov-Blessed qualifying level of health care for the preceding year under the ACA. The VA. That’s how high the bar is. Think about that. “Cause like, the Post Office and Amtrak are just shining beacons.

Steve M.

A few years back my mother was given a mail truck with a failing transmission. She had multiple people on her route tell it sounded terrible. Her favorite response was, “If you think this is bad wait till we run your healthcare.”

jfre

If you don’t like you doctor because he is a lazy scumbag government employee that you have been assigned to, well you get to keep him anyway. When health care is a right, competition and quality dies. Such a pretty girl.

C.Harris

Well you can switch surgery if you don’t like your GP, well if you can find another surgery that will take people from your area, which is increasingly unlikely as more and more GP practices merge into larger health centres.

The Emergency appointment is a common thing despite it being an oxymoron. The thing is they are for non life treating stuff that you think should be dealt with today rather than wait a week (or two if your GP is over subscribed).

Winston Smith

Had that happened to a child of mine, the world would be short a ‘doctor’. And I wouldn’t need to have a firearm either. I suspect there are a lot of you that feel as I do.

I’m certain theres a lot more to this story(we are, after all relying on the msm for facts here), but theres enough to get me riled up for sure.

Hognose Post author

Stranglin’ thumbs are standard equipment on the human skeletal system, and remarkably effective when deployed with speed, surprise and violence of action.

Simon

You can always go to the local hospital.

Hognose Post author

And if your kid is at death’s door, can’t you just call 119 for what Ambulance Driver would call “the bolance” (in adopting the argot of his riders, here).

AndyN

That was my first thought. If my kid is so bad off that I need to make an emergency appointment, and I know she has a history of this kind of thing getting really bad really fast, I’m not just taking her home and putting her in bed when the GP turns me away.

Eric

This country does not need nationalized healthcare like Canada and the UK.

What it needs is nationalized legal care.

Here me out.

When attorneys are all paid at the GS-4 clerk level, not geting their greedy 40% cut of their client’s awards, then the cost of healthcare and about everything else, will deflatte like a popped balloon

Kirk

With the advent of automation in the legal profession, that is exactly what is happening.

I laugh hysterically, every time I hear a white-collar type complain about how things like LegalZoom, contract-writing software, and H1B programs are “…takin’ ar jerbs…”. How does it feel now, asshole, now that the shoe is on the other foot?

Had the delicious experience of running into one of the arrogant asses we have around here that used to work for Microsoft, and who thought their “jerb” was both sacrosanct and “safe”. Funnily enough, it wasn’t, and now they are desperately looking for work, any work, including stuff they turned their noses up at, a few years ago. A lot of these folks are going to have to rethink some of their life choices, as what we tend to refer to as “automation” starts to hit white-collar make-work jobs. Here’s a clue, folks: If a layman with a computer can do 80-90% of what you do, and that solution is “good enough” to get by…? You are obsolete, and your job is not going to be around for very long.