Sunday 15 March 2015

The NHS war of Farage's testicle

At school I remember in history having to learn the War of Jenkin's ear circa 1740. This British sailor Jenkins ear was allegedly cut off by the Spanish but was subsequently exhibited to the Brish Parliament as the causus belli of the war. Roll on 275 years and we hear in the Guardian no less of Farage's lemon sized cancerous testicle. I quote from the Guardian

"Nigel Farage has claimed that the “incompetence and negligence of the NHS” almost killed him in his 20s after a tumour caused his left testicle to swell to the size of a lemon.
In an extract from an autobiography published in the Telegraph on Saturday, the Ukip leader recalled how he was “fobbed off by one NHS doctor to the next” for two months after they failed to spot his testicular cancer when he was 21.
After being told he was covered by his employer’s private health insurance he sought a second opinion. A private GP referred him to a Harley Street surgeon, who told Farage he had a tumour and would need to have a testicle removed.
“What testicular cancer taught me is that the NHS will probably let you down if you need screening, fast diagnosis and an operation at a time that suits you,”
Its dangerous to base health policy on one anecdotal tale. Farage should know this. As a counter example I can point to a girl who was operated on in the Harley Strasser and her appendix expensively removed. There was nothing wrong with the girl's appendix. She had typhoid as our local NHS established.
If Farage is elected I look forward to the diseased Farage testicle in a specimen jar being passed round the House of Commons for all to see this dire example of NHS diagnostic failure that demands immediate health policy reforms.


2 comments:

Greg_L-W. said...

Hi,

you are of course taking the fact that Nigel Farage even had testicular cancer as a givem.

It is interesting to note that the biography he has had commissioned, currently being serialised in The Telegraph as a hagiography states he was 21 when diagnosed!

I well remember what I considered to be a most generous gesture when Nigel rang me at about one am on his way home one night to wish me good luck and encouragement when he first heard I had been diagnosed initially with cancer.

I well remember his comments about his having been diagnosed with testicular cancer when he was 19 and how it had affected his confidence at the time.

So it would seem he has had TWO testicles removed!

Surely it is legitimate to consider who sired his subsequent 4 known children!

It is also worthy of note that the biography written for him claims he was informed of metastesies - that would indubitably have led to a course of chemo therapy as a standard practice yet he makes no claim to have suffered that treatment.

I would, based on Farage's reputation of duplicity be much reassured were he to put in the public domain medical provenance of his claims, as there is little reason to trust his word on any fact - particularly one led in the run up to an election as you have pointed out it is customary for politicians and men of worth to have their biographies written and published AFTER they have left office.

Does the fact that Farage has had his published (The third he has commissioned) tell us something of his expectations of the election and the knowledge he would be unlikely to sell many copies after the election!

Regards,
Greg_L-W.

Eric Edmond said...

I certainly agree with your last sentence!