Heads Down in Bangkok!

Gerald writes from Bangkok that he is indeed keeping his head down. In fact, his letter is hilarious, so let me share. I'm sure he won't mind.

You know I think I am to blame for all this trouble here in Bangkok. Tuesday, I went to the temple of the Black Buddha, except he was all gold. No one was there but for a Buddhist monk who came up and started talking, saying his father had become very wealthy after praying to that Buddha and that he had developed ''Red Bull'' which made him a millionaire; bet you didn't know "Red Bull" came from Thailand ...

Well, he told me it would bring me great fortune if my wife did not wear silver jewellery and if I bought her a ruby. Which I did. Straight away. And that is when the trouble started. The credit card I used to buy the ruby was used by the shop keepers illicitly and had to be cancelled, the local airport was invaded by a mob, and no flights are entering or leaving the country since, the Baht has collapsed (hurray), my conference is cancelled (hurray) and now two of the doctors at our clinic announced today they are leaving in January.

I bet my wife is still wearing silver.

Some people are trying to get us out early ... kill joys. But they say that it will be 72 hours AFTER the airport is cleared before normal flights are resumed. And I still reckon they will clear it by force... 3 am Sunday morning. The Hour of the Wolf ...

Anyway IF they haven't got us out of here within two months I am throwing that ruby ring into the river and taking a bus to Kuala Lumpur.

Why should I worry, I've found some good books to read:

THE GREAT ESCAPE .

BANGKOK HILTON.

VIVA LA THAILAND

BOYS DON'T CRY.

SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET.

WAR OF THE WORLDS.

ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ.

DIE HARD 4

MAN ON FIRE

p.s. If I'm trapped there for the rest of my life, you can look after my dogs, their food must be nearly run out, water my tomatoes and always remember me fondly.

And bored to tears, he's googling himself to pass the time. And here's something about himself he's found. It's cut from a longer article.




Forensic medicine may not be as glamorous as TV shows depict, but it can be interesting and well-paid work for GPs. By Christina Anastasopoulos

IT’s 3am and your phone rings. It’s a detective from the Special Victims Crime Scene Investigation Unit. There’s been a suspected triple homicide and they need a forensic doctor on the scene to help solve the crime.



You jump in your convertible and race through every redlight — time is of the essence. As you arrive, you notice the air is thick with fog. You walk past the police tape and view the scene. In the corner of the room you see a vital piece of evidence left behind. You run some tests and announce to the police: “We got him!”

Okay, so TV has a lot to answer for when it comes to depicting forensic medicine.

Dr Catherine Sansum says television shows such as CSI, Cold Case and Law & Order are entertaining but bear no resemblance to the real life of GPs conducting forensic medicine work —“particularly the fast cars”.

“It’s really interesting work, but we don’t solve the crimes, we don’t go out with police to arrest people, and we don’t get results that afternoon,”says Dr Sansum, a former GP who does forensic work in Canberra.

And rarely do GPs attend to dead people. This forensic work is usually done by pathologists, but some GPs have state-coroner approval to conduct autopsies.

The type of forensic work carried out by GPs can vary, but mainly involves collecting DNA evidence from adult and child victims of sexual and physical assaults, examining suspects in police custody to determine their fitness for police interviews, providing medical advice to police dealing with suspects with a medical problem, and performing toxicology tests if there is alleged drug use.

The work can also involve medical photography, providing medical advice on crime scenes, a lot of report writing and some court appearances.

For Mildura GP Dr Gerald Murphy, court attendances are the most stressful part of forensic work.

“As any doctor who has stood in court will know, it is never pleasant,” he says.

“This is a major intrusion into my daily work as the judicial system runs like a Salvador Dali timepiece. Most court appearances take about two hours from your busy day, and, as one is called to appear at short notice, I sympathise with patients who have to have their appointments cancelled or delayed to allow me to attend.”

And court appearances are not always local. Dr Murphy can be called as far away as Broken Hill or Melbourne.