Dr Upton in the news again

[Sparkyduchess]

I see the lovely Dr Upton is in the news again, who didn’t see this coming 🙄

i feel for the woman facing this, and troubling that she was worried she’d be bullied into accepting treatment from him

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16235793/Doctor-quit-UK-Peggie-trans-row-centre-gender-storm-Australia-known-Lis.html

I hope she has support if she needs it, is happy and healthy, but I'm not sure that speculating about Upton's wife is appropriate, although I'm not trying to tone police.

She's a woman, so although I have the same concerns about her as I would any woman who's husband has conducted himself the way Dr Upton has, which I'm sure many of you would share, she is not involved in any of this other by "accident" of marriage if you see what I mean.

Unless she actively makes herself a part of this in some way, such as making a public statement which we could read and discuss, for example, I think people should respect her privacy and leave her out of it.

Playing on the women's team I expect?

I suppose that means he'll be changing with the female players too. I bet any woman who isn't ok with a male on the team or in the changing room doesn't feel like she can say anything about it either.

I'm well aware of how ED shift patterns work. I was picking up on your claim that the brutal shift patterns will not be conducive to taking part in sports or other regular community activities. He's doing both as his work allows, just as other referees do. I'd love to know which team he's playing for, or how he is insisting being referred to.

I don't feel at all sorry for his wife. She appeared very supportive of him throughout his appalling behaviour in court (and presumably in the lead up to it) and she has free will. She could have left and can leave at any point, but again, has chosen not to.

My sympathies lie with Peggie and every other woman he's shown nothing but contempt for.

Additionally, I've noticed in recent years the tendancy is that in emergency departments vaginal examinations tend to be deferred to female doctors even if the patient hasn't asked.

In my experience of ED in the UK nowadays no ED doctor will do a vaginal examination as the patient is going to be referred to O&G for assessment & they will do the examination. Years ago we fished out retained tampons but this too now requires a referral to Gynae.

I get what you are saying, and agree.

But beyond speculation, life can be tough for "trailing spouses" in ex-pat communities, especially in a small town with a husband who works irregular shifts, on top of what must have been a very difficult few years.

All the evidence suggests that Upton is self-centred and selfish. I hope she has been able to identify a good support network.

Bit of karaoke and a meat raffle down the Arry (RSL basically social club / british legion). Trying to work out how much beer (as a fraction of a UK pint) is actually in a schooner can kill a couple hours too.

I agree. I have no concern for his wife, I know nothing about her beyond that she has chosen to support him and stay with him. Imo, speculating about how she's feeling does a disservice to the women who we know have been adversely affected by this man and takes the focus away from them.

I find it really depressing that when someone oversteps legitimate boundaries, the person who defends the boundary is seen as confrontational. If Dr Upton had not decided that it was acceptable to use a single sex changing room that did not match their sex, there would have been nothing to confront.

A schooner measure depends on the state.

I’m not sure what point you are making, and I don’t understand the relevance of the size of the ED.

I know nothing about the relative sizes of hospitals in Australia, but if a patient turned up at a two man surgery in the middle of the outback, presumably the correct response would be

‘we have no female doctors. We can offer you a chaperone, but your choice is that or waiting to be transferred somewhere else and you might die if treatment is delayed’

The correct response would not be ‘don’t worry Bob is a woman’.

This member is a TRA or trans radical activist, and that's what he or she principally posts on, often misrepresenting factual situations in furtherance of his ideological bent.

Already we have seen him misrepresent Peggie as having done something that he already knows she did not do. As he watches the case very closely.

Given the use of examples that s/he already knows are not true, I would not take such a person very seriously.

So why is it relevant in this instance that Port Macquarie often has long waiting times?

Unfortunately in the last five years I've had quite a number of visits to A&E (both as a patient and as an accompanying spouse/parent/friend). Obviously, this is just anecdotal, but I've observed things that add far more to waiting times than I imagine a woman asking for a female medico ever does eg. patients checking in at reception and then going walkabout outside: to have a ciggie/make calls to every man and his dog to advise that they are at A&E (how do I know? Because they usually start by calling from the waiting room - and for some strange reason the calls are always on speaker phone 🙄/ wait outside to collect their UberEats delivery / wander the corridors to find the snack vending machines. Triage nurse then has to go looking for them, even going outside the building in case the person presenting has deteriorated and needs urgent assistance. Some wander off before and after being seen by the triage nurse, so the waiting room then sees the doctor call the patient's name and the hide and seek starts all over again.

And let's not forget that patients are seen in order of urgency - as they should be. Nothing quite adds to waiting times for the person with an ingrown toe nail like critically ill people.

We don’t know if that happened that way. What I think happened is the woman was seen by Dr Upton initially in the ED and it was after that contact she asked for a female doctor instead. What the DM didn’t tell us was whether was provided or the patient was moved on out of the ED, not requiring further care from ED doctors anyway.

And Aussie beer measures are a bit all over the place recently, due to migration within the country. In Tasmania you will find two pubs on the same street, one offering schooners and middies, another offering pints and pots (tip: the pint isn't really a pint) and yet another doing its glass sizes by ounces.

it’s relevant because PM hospital is small but serves a relatively large area, and that can lead to many people using the ED at the same time.

he he.

Oh yeah. I know a pint of beer in Australia is rather confusing. I have lived in different states and had to learn all the quirks.

The details are not clear, but, taken at face value, there was concern that the hospital would not respect the patient's wishes.

Another facet of this scenario is that Upton is permitted to work at the Kempsey Hospital. Don't know how many of you know Kempsey but it's a rather different place to Port.

Former (maybe still a bit of a) timber town, quite rough. Lot of street crime.

Making progress - earlier today you described Port Macquarie hospital was 'tiny', now just 'small'.

I don't think you've considered that servicing a large geographic area is not the same as servicing a large population - otherwise remote hospitals would be disproportionally large with very few (or no) patients. It brings to mind a particular 'Yes Minister' episode about a brand new hospital with no waiting times and and abundant beds... 😁