Further Confessions of a GP

Heroin dependence exists and is hugely detrimental to everyone. Vitriolic sound bites about the cost to taxpayers might make favourable headlines in the right-wing media, but they don’t make the problem go away. There will always be some people who fall prey to heroin. Whether we view this as the fault of society or the individual is meaningless. As far as I’m concerned, the real issue is trying to prevent vulnerable people like Kenny from plunging into addiction in the first place rather than seeking to blame them once they have.

Stuck in the middle

It was rare to see Tilly with both of her parents. They had split up the previous year and, although they were still being forced to live together due to the negative equity on their house, the break-up was less than amicable.

Tilly was sitting between them and she didn’t look well. She was thin and pale, and her parents were clearly sufficiently worried to try to put their differences aside for long enough to come together to see me.

‘Well, Dr Daniels, Tilly’s not been well since he took her camping that time. I told him not to take her but he didn’t take any notice.’

‘Well that’s nonsense, Dr Daniels – it was nothing to do with the camping. If her mum didn’t let her eat so much junk food she might look a little healthier.’

‘Hold on,’ I interrupted. ‘Can I just ask what symptoms Tilly actually has?’

‘She’s tired all of the time, Doctor, and she just wants to sit on the sofa and drink orange squash.’

Tilly didn’t look like the lively six-year-old child I had once known.

‘Any family history of anything?’ I asked

‘Drinking on his side,’ Tilly’s mum jumped in, pointing an accusatory finger at Tilly’s dad. ‘Practically all of them are pickled by the time they reach 40.’ She started miming a swaying drunk downing a bottle of wine added with her own ‘glug glug’ noises

‘Well at least my family have a bit of fun once in a while. The only thing that runs in your family is misery and bitterness. If you cut your mum open she’d bleed lemon juice she’s so sour—’

‘How about diabetes?’ I interrupted

They both looked at me with concern.

‘Does diabetes run in either of your families?’

For the first time Tilly’s mum and dad actually looked at each other. ‘No,’ they both said shaking their heads in unison.

I’d just tested Tilly’s urine and it was full of glucose.

‘I think Tilly might have diabetes, which is why she’s been feeling so unwell.’

I went through the diagnosis of diabetes with Tilly and her parents. It was scraping the surface really as there was so much new information for them to take in. I couldn’t really begin to tell them everything they needed to know, but perhaps for the first time in a while they were a family again, and Tilly’s mum and dad were able to put their differences aside in their shared love for their daughter.

Danni III

This time Danni had been beaten up. It wasn’t the first time this had happened, but today she seemed really shaken up by it.

‘I actually thought he was going to kill me, Dr Daniels. He had his hands around my neck and was throttling me like this.’ She mimed herself being strangled and I could see in her face how terrified she must have been.

‘Did you speak to the police?’

‘Well, I gave a statement, but they didn’t seem that bothered. He wasn’t a regular and I was so off my tits at the time I couldn’t really remember what he looked like to give a decent description.’

‘Why did he attack you?’

‘He paid for one thing and then wanted something extra thrown in for free. Got pissed off when I said no. Thing is, Dr Daniels, it doesn’t really have to be much of an excuse for some of these blokes. I see how they look at me, as if I’m not really human. The things they say can hurt even more than the punches sometimes.’

‘Well, I’ll document the injuries in case it does go to court.’

‘Okay, Doctor, but that’s not actually why I’m here.’

‘Oh?’

‘Well, this last beating really scared me. I genuinely thought that was it. As he was strangling me all I could think about was my kids.’

Danni paused for a bit and then looked me in the eye.

‘That moment was rock bottom for me and when I realised I wasn’t going to die, I thought, right, Danni, you’ve got a second chance here. A real chance to prove everyone wrong and show that you can get your life back on track.’

‘Fantastic, Danni! I’m really pleased you’re making a positive out of this.’

‘That’s where you come in, Doctor. You’ve always been kind to me and I need you to help me get my kids back.’

‘I’m not sure it’s that simple, Danni. It’s not me who makes that sort of decision.’

‘I know it won’t be easy, Doctor. The social workers never listen to me, but they’ll listen to you. If you can tell them that I’m coming off the game and off the smack then we can stop them putting my kids up for adoption.’