Evan Smith

[RedMarauder]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-london-56647361

This is shocking because it happened in a London hospital in 2019.

Since the 1990s the local news has randomly done packages/articles on sickle cell, mainly warning people that due to the ethic mix in London a lot more people than first appear could be carriers or have the condition.

Yet it appears that healthcare staff still have no concept of the range of genetic blood disorders including the most common ones that mainly affect the black population.

Also again this is another case of healthcare staff denying that black people know their own bodies and medical history.

@RedMarauder
I was just about to post that link and see that you've already done so.
I never knew about this case which must have been covered back in 2019. His parents were just on Channel 4 news which aired the coroner's findings and it was absolutely heartbreaking to hear about this young man.

Can you imagine having to call 999 while in hospital because no one is listening when you tell them that unless you get oxygen and/or a blood transfusion this condition that you know about and which has affected you all your life is going to kill you?!

And it was at bloody north middlesex hospital that serves a significant black african/caribbean community?!

And this was in 2019?!

I know that I have repeated what Red has said but such is the extent of my disbelief! I used to live not too far from that hospital so I know about the community it serves and simply cannot fathom that medical staff would not have known to take him seriously.

@maggiethecat some people on this and other parts of MN fail to understand that healthcare is one of the reasons black people don't want to live or study away at university in certain parts of the UK.

Saying that I know due to my family and friends that some hospitals in parts of the Home Counties were safer to be treated in than North Middlesex in 2019.

I believe he had recently had a gall bladder procedure and I would expect that hospital records would reveal this and his sickle cell condition. Even if they did find his blood saturation levels to be sufficient you’d think they’d give him oxygen and the benefit of any doubt based on how distressed he was.

I am so cross I cannot imagine how his family feels.