Saturday 2 June 2012

Meet Cllr John Butcher - the real deal health fascist

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I pity the poor electors of the nice Surrey town of Cobham who have this John Butcher as their Councillor:


“If the NHS in Surrey were to be run on the basis that patients with self-inflicted morbidity (mainly smoking, alcohol, narcotics, obesity) and injury (dangerous activities) are, following due warning, placed in a much slower-moving queue for healthcare than ‘other’ patients, this would encourage the self-inflicted to move away from Surrey, to areas where there is no differentiation between patients on the grounds of their contribution towards their condition."

So if you smoke, drink, drive fast cars round a track or climb rocks (not sure whether Cllr Butcher's 'dangerous activities' includes horse riding and playing rugby) you'll be made to wait longer in the hope that you'll move away from Surrey. Indeed, it seems that Cllr Butcher thinks that, by doing this, all these people with "self-inflicted" illnesses will move to places where the authorities believe in equal treatment.

What I found yet more bizarre is that, when challenged for his unalloyed health facism, Cllr Butcher digs his hole even deeper with this proposal:


Everyone in, or aspiring to, a position of public responsibility and everyone in a position to influence the public, including entertainers etc, should be asked to sign a voluntary pledge not to take illegal narcotics or consume excessive alcohol, or drive when so affected..

...(a)nyone who fails to sign that pledge, or who signs it and breaches it, should be excluded from positions of public responsibility and influence. All public organisations, included regulated broadcasters etc, should agree to impose this exclusion..

...(t)here would be a Trust to manage this pledge and to determine breaches, with a right of appeal. The costs of running it would be funded by fees from signatories, donations from philanthropists and a grant from the government – the grant being greatly exceeded by the savings in cost to the Exchequer, due to the substantial reduction in such abuse that will follow. 

Amazing stuff! It is, however, quite depressing that this health fascist is a Conservative Councillor.

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5 comments:

Leg-iron said...

Just one step away from setting up the camps now, eh?

cringe said...

Indeed. That be the Butcher of Surrey.

(t)here would be a Trust to manage this pledge and to determine breaches, with a right of appeal.

Why not call it..... The Department of Truth™.

Anonymous said...

It sounds like modern medical practiced turned upside-down and on its head. Hasn't it always been common sense practice that for triage sorting of patients during times of war injuries and civilian disasters that the doctors and nurses would always see the ones first who needed the most, not the least attention. But this councillor is trying to have it both ways - he is saying (smugly too) that these people beneath him whose choices in lifestyle aren't on par with the exalted choices made by himself are in poorer health - but then goes on to say they should be put to the back, not the front of the line - the complete opposite of common practice and turns medical triage upside down, topsy turvy. And if the anti-lifestyle medical establishment has put him up to this, what does that say about modern medicine - is it more content with feeding perfectly well patients lots of pharmaceuticals for imaginary illnesses at a profit for pharmaceuticals and doctors both than it is actually getting its hands dirty and doing the work it was licensed to be doing and the whole point and purpose of going to medical school, to treat sick people, not the well. To see what is becoming normalised these days it to see what it must have been like prior to every great surge in dictatorship in societies past, when illogical nonsense can be turned into virtue and deception into believable truth. Let's hope this ones idea doesn't get much further off the ground. It's very alarming - as smokers, drinkers, heavyweight people, sugar drink drinkers, others already full well know.

Anonymous said...

Prevention being better than cure, how come Mr Butcher's ideas got a Conservative platform to dance on?

Anonymous said...

Of course, we all know (fact) that Butcher has a drink (and driving) problem.....Questions should be raised also about how he managed to force out the long serving and (and sane) previous Tory counsellor would served the community loyally and never voiced such ridiculous views. Bring back Dorothy Mitchell, all is forgiven!