Today’s article is prompted by two things:
– a conversation with a friend living in Middleton in Leeds. He had a couple of strokes and is now on a daily dose of aspirin and other drugs.
– sarcastic and silly comments on the websites of the tabloid newspapers about last night’s “Downton Abbey” episode.
To those Readers who did not watch the programme screened on ITV1 at 9:00PM Sunday evening, it featured one of the lead characters, “Lord G” – Robert Crawley, the 7th Earl of Grantham – played by actor Hugh Bonneville, suffering a burst ulcer at a dinner party.
In real life, such an event is shocking and bloody. Apart from minor details – such as the colour of the blood – it did not resemble a gastrointestinal bleed – it was a well staged. Before the scene ITV had warned viewers that there were going to be “shocking scenes” – this did not defray the public’s criticism however.
In this the public were wrong and ITV did a public service last night for my friend is going to address the issue of ulcer prevention with his GP – this prompted by his watching last night’s episode. With an ageing population many are on daily doses of aspirins and ITV’s dramatic portrayal may actually do some practical good.
Speaking the Truth unto the Nation
Interestingly, the Daily Mail had comments from their resident contributer Dr Scurr (also consultant on the Doc Martin series), who stated that such projectile blood-letting was definately a possibility. However, in this day and age with modern drugs, these would be given enabling the condition heal up and prevent such a scary scenario.