Some of you may remember this blog post I wrote back in April about Patient X, who was being denied treatment by the NHS because X was a smoker. I certainly have not forgotten about it, and every few weeks I try to get an update about the situation. My source, however, is incredibly reluctant to pass any further information about what is going on, for fear of retaliation against X. Because of this fear, my source refuses to share the letter that the NHS sent to X, even though I've promised to redact it fully to avoid X being identified. It's frustrating that people are genuinely afraid of our socialised health care system -- no, it's absolutely galling and unacceptable. We should not be afraid of our doctors. Nevertheless, I have since given up trying to persuade my source to part with the letter. I do, however, have a bit more info to share, so I thought it would be good to provide short update.
A short while back, X received another letter from the NHS. Instead of demanding again that X quit smoking, that letter was an appointment confirmation to book in the care that X requires. Patient X had not contacted the NHS for any reason -- not to complain or ask for redress -- and X had all along assumed that in order to go ahead with treatment that X had to quit smoking. But X had not given up smoking. So it's possible that the letters the NHS is sending out are simply paper tigers -- unenforceable and deceptive ploys designed to deceive you to quit smoking in order to receive NHS services, even though you do not have to quit to receive treatment. I cannot say with certainty that is what those letters are, but based on X's experience, it seems that way. Or maybe somebody just ballsed it up and sent the letter out mistakenly. Whatever the reason for the new letter, the NHS is unnecessarily causing patients grief and anguish to promote it's anti-smoker stance.
While I'm on the subject of the NHS, there is yet another public consultation happening right now to propose amendments the to the NHS's Constitution. It's rather lengthy at 58 pages (the PDF, which you can get here, is only 670kb though). If you have never read the NHS's Constitution, you might find it well interesting. Skip to Annex 4 in the PDF on page number 38 (actual page is 41).
One of the first things I noticed was this logo (note to Lawson: you know what to do):
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| Does it? Does it really? Even smokers and chubby folk? |
Dignity, respect and compassionThe Constitution itself merely says:
53. Compassionate care should be at the centre of the care and treatment the NHS provides. The NHS Future Forum considers it a core principle that the NHS needs to continue to uphold in all aspects of service delivery. A culture of compassion, dignity and respect is best achieved when the concerns and interests of individuals are prioritised and their basic human rights are safeguarded. To better reflect this we have strengthened the wording in the values’ section of the Constitution. We have also incorporated dignity, respect and compassion into the aims for staff.
Respect, consent and confidentiality:Well, that's all well and good, I suppose. Still, we already know that the tobacco control industry's decades of denormalisation have clearly resulted in smokers being despised and vilified, a veritable sub-class of humanity, indeed smokers are less than human and undeserving of any basic human right to respect, compassion or dignity, but certainly deserving of dying a painful death if they choose to abandon the gospel of Public Health. Well, that's my take on it. I don't know what the brass in the NHS really thinks about smokers. All I do know is that doctors are supposed to treat people who are ill, regardless of how one became ill. And I know that too many doctors today don't want to treat smokers because they believe the illnesses are self-inflicted and preventable. In other words, smokers, you are taking time away from those who actually deserve to be treated for their illnesses -- and yes, I actually heard a GP say something very, very close to that.
You have the right to be treated with dignity and respect, in accordance with your human rights.
Oh, and one last thing. Did you know that the NHS has a mandate? You can read the NHS mandate here. The very first part of the mandate is "Preventing people from dying prematurely." I have long wondered what is to be considered a premature death by the anti-smokers and Public Health believers. At which point do you draw a line under the age at when someone's death is no longer premature?
I pondered this dilemma in my very first blog post, and I still believe that there is no such thing as a premature death. There are unexpected deaths, and tragic deaths, and drawn-out painful deaths because we have no rights to determine our times of death when we are terminally ill. But premature? It is merely the time of your death, regardless of time spent on this spinning piece of rock. My opinion aside and if the mandate is anything to go by, then it appears that the NHS has drawn the line under the age of 75.
How does that make you feel knowing the government-sanctioned life expectancy is 75-years-old. I suppose I am not surprised by this revelation. Make of it what you will.
* * *
Some things do surprise me. Take for example the blog post I wrote about criminal scum -- er, I mean, serial fraudster Steve Taylor. Presently, it is the fourth-most popular post on my blog (it was as high as no.2 at one point), and it's got nothing to do with anti-smokers. Go figure!
When I wrote about Steve Taylor, it was personal interest story. The guy just pissed me off. I didn't expect much to come of that post. At the time of writing, I did not fully realise the effect this man has had on hundreds of people. But I know it now because I get one or two e-mails per week about the things he has done to others, how he harmed them and ruined people's lives. I cannot publish those e-mails, for they are hearsay and some have even begged that I do not mention their name for fear of retaliation. But I thank all of you who have written to me about Taylor. I am truly sorry that Taylor has had a negative impact on your lives.
As it turns out, the title of my post was correct -- it is an incomplete history of Steve Taylor. I knew that he had been sent to prison for fraud once before, but my I missed finding the actual circumstances of his crime when I had searched for it. So today, I would like to share what I have since discovered, via an old, archived article at the Bradford Telegraph and Argus web site:
Gay helpline closes amid funds riddle
Volunteers and workers on a helpline set up to help Keighley gay people have resigned
The move comes after the Keighley-based chairman and committee members of the OUTline organisation complained to police about alleged irregularities in the activities of Steven Paul Taylor, also known as Simon Thorpe.
Mr Taylor, 23, of Raistrick Way, Shipley, and formerly of Garden Lane, Heaton, Brad-ford, is secretary/service manager of OUTline, a helpline set up to help Keighley's 5,000 gay men and women. It also provides free information on a range of issues for the town's gay and bisexual men.
Workers on the helpline have alleged that Taylor has:
- run up debts of around £20,000
- signed cheques and purchased goods knowing there were no funds to cover them
- leased a Rover car knowing funds were not available to pay for it
- told them he has left a trail of debt across the country believed to be in the region of £150,000
- Using the name of Simon Thorpe, Taylor told the Keighley News in January that he was the man behind the new 24-hour helpline.
[...]
The Keighley News spoke to Steven Taylor who told us that OUTline had now closed. He admitted he had signed cheques knowing there were no funds to cover them.
So there you have it. Sounds a lot like what he did to LACS recently. Once a con-man, always a con-man? I dunno. Well, everybody deserves a fourth or fifth chance. Right? That said, there is little doubt in my mind that Steve Taylor would be the perfect PR man in the tobacco control industry. So when you get out of prison, Mr Taylor, you may want to put your CV in at the Universities of Bath or Stirling or even at ASH London. They could always use someone with your skill set, and there is always plenty of taxpayers' money for the taking. Good luck to you!
As a final vanity point on the story of Steven Paul Taylor, it's always interesting to see what people searched on to find my blog post about Taylor. So, for the craic, here's a list of 50 search terms people used that led to Steve Taylor's page (in roughly alphabetical order):
incredibly social steve taylor
lord clark of windermere & steven taylor
more on steve taylor jailed
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stephen taylor coursing
stephen taylor coursing rochdale
stephen taylor fraud league against prison
stephen taylor pr
stephen taylor sentenced
steve taylor
steve taylor arrested
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steve taylor corps charity
steve taylor corps charity fraud
steve taylor corps court case
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steve taylor corps jailed
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"steve taylor corps" prison
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steve taylor fraud 2012
steve taylor fraud september 2012
steve taylor greyhounds
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steve taylor howard league
steve taylor jailed
steve taylor jailed cornwall
steve taylor lacs
steve taylor lacs blog
steve taylor lacs picture
steve taylor lacs uk
steve taylor league against cruel sports
steve taylorcorps
steve taylorcorps fraud
steve taylorcorps twitter
steven paul taylor 16 months imprisonment
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steven paul taylor in prison
steven taylor fraud
steven taylor jailed
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steven taylor went to prison
steven taylorcorps prison rps
the steve taylor story
Hmm. I'm sensing a pattern.
