D_I_Y Surgery!

motorcycle accident. He happened to be the best qualified for the job and preferred not to leave the job to any of his colleagues.

Colin Bignell

Then there's this one...

The message from "Peter Crosland" contains these words:

My brother was wondering the other day why it is that if he'd cut his leg and needed a couple of stitches it'd have taken a long wait in A&E and cost the NHS a small fortune, wheras when his dog did it, even on a Sunday dog got seen at once and bill was £17.

.. and probably saw a more skilled practitioner into the bargain.

Worked in the labs there often

and, of course, the doctor in A&E would not be permitted to operate on the dog, but the vet could have operated on the human.

Colin Bignell

Didn't even know B&Q had labs

David

Typo I think. "v" is next to "b" on the keyboard...... ;-)

The message from Andy Hall contains these words:

Certainly better a putting on dressings, in my experience.

The message from Lobster contains these words:

Thought they'd switched entirely to poodles.

Only when it's raining.

Mary

I always wondered whether dentists fixed up their own teeth in the bathroom mirror.

My very expensive private dentist in Bradford flew to another country in the EU to get root canal therapy done by one of his erstwhile fellow students at Uni. "It just died", he said, no neglect of hygeine, lack of brushing, or owt like that, then.

Suppose that *would be* a bit too much to do with a Dremel in the mirror.

DG

The message from Derek ^ contains these words:

I've done a spot of DIY dentistry with a dremelish. Cracked a tooth leaving a very sharp edge which was rubbing my gum really badly. Bank holiday weekend, so just removed the edge. Very little actual enamel ground off, perhaps 1/2mm along the edge, just enough to blunt it. Dentist seemed to think it was a reasonable thing to have done and said that it didn't affect how he was going to repair it anyway.

"nightjar .uk.com>"

Well, the vets are more highly qualified: the patients can't explain the symptoms and the vets need to know much more pharmacology (because drug sensitivity varies a lot between species). Also, if you have ever seen the damage a horse kick can do you would realise how careful vets are.

However whether, in these litigious times, a vet would have been prepared to do the job is another question.

Ditto dental work - my JR had a tooth out and the rest cleaned, under general anaesthetic, for £100, at 24 hours notice.

The repercussions had the dog died would be a lot less than if someone had paid =A317 at the hospital and died as a result.

MBQ

If they paid £17, perhaps yes. However, there are remarkably few repercussions for the 5000 per year who die of hospital aquired infections, and didn't pay a penny.

Most Hospitals are a little "shy" about entering any note of infection accredited to cause of death, especially the media buzz that is MRSA. You would be VERY surprised at the state of some hospitals behind the scenes, theatres,labs etc. and not just the NHS, some private Hospitals are just as bad !!. I'm surprised I never contracted something whilst working in them for the last 10 years, especially having to lie on the floor at times to repair a piece of equipment!

Although MRSA gets all the bad press, I believe it is responsible for only 15-20% of hospital acquired infections. If you include non- fatal cases, the figures are truely astonishing -- about 300,000 hospital acquired infections per year in the UK, with about 9% of hospital patients at any one time having a hospital acquired infection.