An appointment with Shipman
As a fortunate, surviving former patient of the infamous Doctor Harold Shipman, I have memories of many encounters with him, most of which will remain locked away in memory as private and of no interest to anyone other than me. Given the personal devastation that he left in the lives of many of the townsfolk of Hyde, including a best friend of mine, and others that I know personally, I wouldn’t want to give him or his memory too much opportunity for further publicity.
However, I was reminiscing the other day, as we ageing folk tend to do with increasing regularity, and the following memory popped up, and I thought it may be of interest to anyone who has heard of our malevolent medic.
Some twenty years ago now I had an appointment with Shipman, for some now long forgotten ailment. I’d passed the age of forty, and he, during the appointment, quite properly I thought at the time, declared that,
“it’s about time we gave you an MOT” *
An amount of blood was taken and sent off for analysis, and in due course I was summoned back to his surgery to be given the result. Unfortunately for me the ‘bad’ cholesterol was rather too high.
A lecture then ensued during which I was taught about ‘good’ and ‘bad’ cholesterol, and the various options I had for bringing it down to an acceptable level. During the lesson, Shipman made one statement, which seemed quite benign but interesting from a scientific point of view, and which didn’t really come into it’s own until several years later when the extent and nature of his evil activities had been revealed.
He said that,
“... on the other hand, women are protected [from the bad effects of cholesterol] until they reach the menopause...”,
and finally the knockout punchline which only years later would reveal (to me) a grotesque link to his behaviour,
“...and then they’re dropping like flies!”
A somewhat chilling reference perhaps to the secret activities he was, even then, engaged in.
* MOT - for the benefit of anyone from distant lands, - is an annual test for motor vehicles once they pass a certain age - also used lightheartedly to refer to health checks and possibly various other age/wear & tear tests too.
