Cardiff Bay Yacht Club Fined £40,000 and £14,400 costs!

Quite. If you find somebody collapsed in the street it's probably best to step over them and carry on. No point making yourself vulnerable to litigation. Best not call an ambulance either. Walk on by.

I have heard of Doctors in the US doing just that, and the UK gets closer every day - however I suspect most people here would help even if they knew they actually were going to be sued. :)
 
I have heard of Doctors in the US doing just that, and the UK gets closer every day - however I suspect most people here would help even if they knew they actually were going to be sued. :)
In America the doctor would probably frisk them to see if they were insured. No insurance, no treatment
 
In America the doctor would probably frisk them to see if they were insured. No insurance, no treatment

I learned yesterday that in the US you have to pay through the nose for ambulances. It's a real problem for people with epilepsy, because well meaning bystanders phone 911 when they see someone having a seizure and the poor sod on the ground ends up with the bill. The chap whose account I read regularly has to pay a grand a month for unwanted ambulances.
 
Hi JDck, well the whole point of a check over by A&E or Ambulance is that the responsibility transfers to these proffesionals, they have equipment, training, responsibility etc to judge delayed results of accidents, they have History to examine, and they can give a state of play condition acceptable to lawyers etc. The welfare of the victims is Paramount in these incidents, indeed if a coach is involved in an accident on our roads all the victims are transfered to A&E for assessment. I would say that those participating in water sports deserve similar treatment:-)

Even Ambulance services play safe in a situation with the POTENTIAL for a person to be seriously affected by an incident. My wife was in a motor accident a couple of years ago, and although very shaken up, she was physically fine. However, the ambulance attending gave her an ECG, which was somewhat abnormal - but she has a pacemaker and bionic bits to her heart, and it was "normal" for those circumstances. The paramedics didn't quite insist on her going to A&E but they were obviously keen on her going, and what's more, going in their ambulance! To reasure ourselves (though we were pretty certain she was OK), we accepted their services and spent a long evening in A&E whiel she was checked out.

Personally, I am amazed that the emergency services weren't involved after an accident of that nature, and if they had been, I am also sure that the people injured would have been checked in A&E, which would probably have detected the latent injuries and enabled treatment to start much sooner than it actually did. Checking for neurological symptoms is not a matter for first-aiders or nurses.
 
Even Ambulance services play safe in a situation with the POTENTIAL for a person to be seriously affected by an incident. My wife was in a motor accident a couple of years ago, and although very shaken up, she was physically fine. However, the ambulance attending gave her an ECG, which was somewhat abnormal - but she has a pacemaker and bionic bits to her heart, and it was "normal" for those circumstances. The paramedics didn't quite insist on her going to A&E but they were obviously keen on her going, and what's more, going in their ambulance! To reasure ourselves (though we were pretty certain she was OK), we accepted their services and spent a long evening in A&E whiel she was checked out.

Personally, I am amazed that the emergency services weren't involved after an accident of that nature, and if they had been, I am also sure that the people injured would have been checked in A&E, which would probably have detected the latent injuries and enabled treatment to start much sooner than it actually did. Checking for neurological symptoms is not a matter for first-aiders or nurses.

Thank you APilot' a voice of reason, reality and practibility :-)
 
Personally, I am amazed that the emergency services weren't involved after an accident of that nature, and if they had been, I am also sure that the people injured would have been checked in A&E, which would probably have detected the latent injuries and enabled treatment to start much sooner than it actually did. Checking for neurological symptoms is not a matter for first-aiders or nurses.

There was no sign at the time that anybody had been injured.

We don't know what "medical training" the two house mothers had. I expect that they wish, with the benefit of hindsight, that the three seriously hurt girls had gone to hospital but at the time I think that checking all the girls carefully and repeatedly was probably the right call, and better than keeping them up for several hours to make - in most cases - a pointless trip to A&E.

I'm quite happy to point accusing fingers at those who contributed towards the accident, which has been carefully analysed by experts. Absent a medical analysis of post-accident care, I don't feel confident enough to criticise.
 
Quite. If you find somebody collapsed in the street it's probably best to step over them and carry on. No point making yourself vulnerable to litigation. Best not call an ambulance either. Walk on by.

Best not if you're a medical professional in the UK; that's an act which could see you reprimanded, struck off and prevented from earning a living in your profession.

Several children went into the water and at least one was unconscious for a time; the latter definitely should have gone straight to A&E, those with cold shock might as well be checked too. Head injuries are an automatic hospital visit as far as my first aid training is concerned.
 
Even Ambulance services play safe in a situation with the POTENTIAL for a person to be seriously affected by an incident. My wife was in a motor accident a couple of years ago, and although very shaken up, she was physically fine. However, the ambulance attending gave her an ECG, which was somewhat abnormal - but she has a pacemaker and bionic bits to her heart, and it was "normal" for those circumstances. The paramedics didn't quite insist on her going to A&E but they were obviously keen on her going, and what's more, going in their ambulance! To reasure ourselves (though we were pretty certain she was OK), we accepted their services and spent a long evening in A&E whiel she was checked out.

Personally, I am amazed that the emergency services weren't involved after an accident of that nature, and if they had been, I am also sure that the people injured would have been checked in A&E, which would probably have detected the latent injuries and enabled treatment to start much sooner than it actually did. Checking for neurological symptoms is not a matter for first-aiders or nurses.

This will have nothing to do with the fact that the car insurers will pay not the NHS
 
indeed if a coach is involved in an accident on our roads all the victims are transfered to A&E for assessment. I would say that those participating in water sports deserve similar treatment:-)

Thirty people have been taken to hospital, including a child with serious head injuries, after two school buses collided in Co Durham.

A 12-year-old boy and the 54-year-old driver of one of the buses were airlifted to the Royal Victoria infirmary in Newcastle upon Tyne, after the collision on the A693 in Stanley, on Tuesday morning . They remained in hospital with serious injuries police said.

Emergency services were alerted to the collision between a single-decker and double-decker, jointly carrying around 50 children aged between 11 and 18 from St Bede's Catholic school and sixth form college, in Lanchester, and Tanfield school, in Stanley.


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/03/twenty-injured-school-buses-collide-county-durham
 
Several children went into the water and at least one was unconscious for a time; the latter definitely should have gone straight to A&E.

As far as I can make out, there is no mention in the MAIB report of anyone having been unconscious, but only of delayed indications of concussion, which is not the same thing. And to the best of my knowledge, Chinese Whisper syndrome is untreatable.
 
Even more surprising that they did not send the child with the head injury to A&E.

Presumably there was no reason to take her.

The MAIB report says that she felt unwell two days later and was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome.
Seems to agree with what it says here here
that symptoms can appear only later and also there is no effective treatment.

(disclaimers: I'm not a medic; wikipedia may be wrong)
 
Last edited:
JumbleDuck
Originally Posted by Capt Popeye
indeed if a coach is involved in an accident on our roads all the victims are transfered to A&E for assessment. I would say that those participating in water sports deserve similar treatment:-)

Thirty people have been taken to hospital, including a child with serious head injuries, after two school buses collided in Co Durham.

A 12-year-old boy and the 54-year-old driver of one of the buses were airlifted to the Royal Victoria infirmary in Newcastle upon Tyne, after the collision on the A693 in Stanley, on Tuesday morning . They remained in hospital with serious injuries police said.

Emergency services were alerted to the collision between a single-decker and double-decker, jointly carrying around 50 children aged between 11 and 18 from St Bede's Catholic school and sixth form college, in Lanchester, and Tanfield school, in Stanley.

+1 - people don't routinely get taken to hospital for no reason

here also with boat crash

Nine people have been injured when a sightseeing tour boat crashed into Tower Bridge.
The City Cruises vessel Millennium Diamond, with 130 people on board, struck the bridge at about 12:00 BST.
The boat continued to St Katharine Docks where paramedics treated the injured. Five people were taken to hospital, including a 64-year-old woman with pelvic and head injuries.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-27701145
 
It couldn't possibly be that the injuries were only noticed after the event, when someone mentioned compensation to them.

After a car crash I had a painful wrist. It was difficult to keep my insurers solicitor and the payed doctor, off my case for compensation.
 
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