Uncle Albert's Cafe and Ǽ-Theory Bistro

I've twice inadvertently been one of those, not on the official RFDS payroll though. When in Mildura some 20 + years ago I did several patient transports to Adelaide. I volunteered, for the experience, and also because it freed up the need for one of their doctors to escort the patient ( Mildura being 'peripheral' to the heart of their territory at the time ). I think they are still using the same class/type of plane ( twin engine turbo's ), nice movers ..... you can get about 300 knots out of them I think.

Cheers, Mike.

( edit ) What is sad, though, is one probably couldn't do that sort of thing these days. Legal liability. The RFDS would have to now say that they don't know Mike Hewson from a bar of soap, he's not certified etc and my insurer would say they never agreed to me doing this. Emergency status not withstanding. There was 'good Samaritan' legislation introduced about 10 years ago - along the lines of stopping at road side accidents rather than driving through, you act in good faith, best interests of the patient etc .... however all tests ( in courts ) of adverse outcomes, should one volunteer to be so helpful, have found against the doctor. So that's a mirage. Perversely it has depended on the onus of proof being on the doctor to show the patient would have definitely died ( an almost criminal case level of standard of proof ) had one not assisted. As that sort of thing is virtually impossible to be so firm about, guess what happens? Gotcha!!

So alas the current advice from our insurers is to not respond to 'is there a doctor on board?' as we are undefendable, regardless of biological actuality. And if they can't defend you, they won't cover you, so exclusion clauses for precisely this have appeared. And if no one finds out you are a doctor then they can't make a case ( medical boards now ) for not rendering emergency assistance. So it's either Scylla or Charybdis. I fill out my boarding passes as 'IT consultant' - which is true in a limited sense - as some clever bod in the airlines has worked out a way of identifying you onboard should you not own up to being a medico on the day. The airlines love it as any subsequent liability they can hang around the doctor's neck the moment one becomes involved.

One wonders if the engine catches fire - do they ask for a fireman amongst the passengers? Before you think me too callous, think for a moment how you'd feel if your entire nett worth ( the output of your life's work to date ) be pivoted on a momentary decision to help out a total stranger in dire need. This is not legal theory - case law has proven this to be exactly so.

Even more perversely : this has pretty well guaranteed that any assistance you might get from someone within a group of nearby strangers is going to be from those who know the least of what to do!

( edit ) To be exact : an airline I won't name and shame did not take advice from a medico to divert and land due to lack of an onboard oxygen supply. Bad things happened to the patient. The issue of why the divert couldn't take place was not allowed to be considered in defense as it is a Medical Practitioner's Board not a Pure Profit Seeking Airline Behaviours Board. The classic 'fair trial followed by a hanging' .... so if in doubt shut the **** up.

17 days and what do you get?
a dusty old thread
and deeper in debt!

Wow, what a find! Yes, you do so this technique right across the political spectrum - a generic technique. My optimism is that the likes of the Internet can negate this stuff ( if people care enough ) simply because a key foundation of this paranoid approach is information hiding in addition to outright lies. That reduces the imperative/reward in validating truth .....

Cheers, Mike.

( edit ) and using of words like 'lamestream' is a classic technique too. It deliberately invokes some immediate emotional response which pre-judges or even averts critical analysis. So the key point about such labels is not their truth or falsity, but what perversion of an objective viewpoint you can achieve by introducing the term.

Built up enough RAC to post again! Hello strangers!