UK: Little old lady deemed a violent patient

The usual mindless British bureaucracy.

A retired schoolteacher who was found by social services to be a "medium to high risk" of causing violence has forced a council to review its assessments of the elderly. Ada Tremlett, 81, who is barely 5ft tall, needs two walking sticks to get around and was recovering from a broken wrist when she was deemed "potentially dangerous" by social services staff.

The warning was disclosed when the grandmother, whose late husband was a policeman, opened a file left for carers sent to her home. She complained and has forced a review of the way old people are assessed and also the re-training of social service staff.

"I was horrified," said the mother-of-two. "I am an 81-year-old woman with no history of violence, who has never been in trouble or anything. "I cannot believe that the council is putting my future care at risk." Mrs Tremlett, of Tiverton, Devon, complained to Devon county council and has won a complete apology.

The pensioner was referred to social services by her local hospital after she fell and broke her wrist. As part of the assessment, the health visitor filled out a two-minute, risk assessment form. The answers are given on a scale of one to 10. The score is then added up to determine if the patient is a low or high risk of violence.

Mrs Tremlett said: "I remember the questions were slightly odd. I thought it was a joke. You just have to look at me to see I am not a risk to anyone."

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Australia: Public hospital bathroom birth 'cover-up'

The notorious Royal North Shore Hospital again. At least the baby lived this time -- unlike last time

The grandmother of a baby girl born in a Sydney hospital toilet with the umbilical cord around her neck, has accused the hospital of a cover-up. Nick Patsidis yesterday said hospital staff were "too busy" to treat his wife Cathy Patsidis or administer an epidural when she went into labour on Monday morning and gave birth in the toilet of a nursing suite.

However, Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH) has denied any wrongdoing in its treatment of Cathy Patsidis. It said two experienced midwives had helped deliver her healthy baby after a "precipitous labour".

Nick's mother Maria Patsidis today accused the hospital of lying. She said she was afraid her granddaughter would die in her arms. "Everything was a lie. Whatever they said - they're just trying to cover themselves up," she told Fairfax Radio Network. "It wasn't (a quick labour). The midwife who was standing on top of Cathy should have known what this was. She didn't call a doctor, she didn't call anybody. "This midwife is holding her legs together and my son opens her legs to let her baby come out. "What if Nick didn't do that - the baby had the (umbilical) cord around its neck. "I will never forget - what I saw was something you would see out of a horror movie."

Maria Patsidis said the family felt the need to speak out to prevent the same thing happening to other families. "We had to come out and talk about it because this is happening in our hospitals - this is 2008," she said.

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