A surprised defence of smokers rights!

Hi – this is Daisy’s Dad learning how blogs work. Unfortunately, Daisy has been in and out of hospital over the last couple of weeks, and hasn’t had the time to do much on her computer. I’ll let her tell the story, because I know she has been making loads of notes – in the meanwhile, she asked me to post something to show that her blog is still live, and left the topic up to me to choose. Brave girl!

As it happens, I do have something I want to say, because on my hospital visits I observed a couple of cases of unfair treatment, almost victimisation, which have made me hopping mad.

Our local hospital has a no-smoking policy, and as a lifelong non-smoker who lost both parents to smoking-related disease, I agree with it totally. I am saddened to see hospital staff hanging around in the grounds taking a furtive drag, even though the ban extends in theory to the grounds as well, but I know that they are dedicated and caring people who work long hours for ridiculously low pay, and a cigarette helps them through the day.

But heaven preserve the smokers who end up as patients! They come into hospital because they are ill, and their crutch is kicked away as soon as they are admitted. There is not even a smokers’ day room available to them. One elderly man set himself and his bed on fire trying to have a surreptitious puff during the night shift, but the case that really annoyed me was that of a young mother who was in for investigation of severe abdominal pain.

After a number of tests, they determined that it would be necessary to remove her gall bladder, which would mean going onto a waiting list for the operation. She couldn’t go home immediately because there were some other tests to be carried out, but she was promised an appointment with the Pain Control Team before leaving hospital, as the pain was spasmodic but crippling when it hit. But Oh No! The appointment was cancelled. And why? Because when not in pain she could walk out into the grounds to text her children and, yes, have a cigarette. As she said, she would "crawl over broken glass" to keep in touch with her children, but mobile phones and cigarettes are not allowed in the hospital buildings, and the fact that she could make her journey to the grounds was taken as proof that she was not in sufficient pain.

Sufficient pain! She described the intensity as being like childbirth, and in childbirth it is possible to move around between contractions. I don’t know, I’m only a man, but as a Mum with four children she would know what she was talking about, and I got the impression she was a tough cookie, not someone to make a fuss without reason.

I do not know who took the decision to cancel the Pain Relief consultation, but I do wonder what went through her/his mind while doing it. Where did the compassion go? I would be delighted if all smokers could give up the habit tomorrow, but surely nicotine dependency is a part of the patient’s problem which could be established at admission and taken into account during treatment – for example by offering patches and counselling. Or am I making the mistake of wanting to see a holistic approach to treatment rather than a one-thing-at-a-time conveyor system?