Doctor abandons patient for a Maiden concert

[Melisan]

http://www.dagbladet.no/2010/08/12/nyheter/innenriks/legevakt/turnustjeneste/iron_maiden/12937664/

Google Translate does a pretty good job. Anyway, what an attitude.

 

[Red Shirt]

I was in Bergen a couple years ago and yes with my red shirt, but there was nothing to snap a picture with the red shirt so it went unannounced. Bergen is a beautiful place. The people are great. What I found interesting is the people in Norway speak perfect American English with no trace of England English. What I find even more bizarre is how did you come across this Norwegian article? ...and as far as the doctor goes, I don't blame him one bit, I would have done the same!

 

[Melisan]

It was submitted to Fark. I have a Total Fark membership so I see all the submissions. It linked back to Blabbermouth, and I followed it to the source in the Norway newspaper.

 

[Metallicat180]

I was in Bergen a couple years ago and yes with my red shirt, but there was nothing to snap a picture with the red shirt so it went unannounced. Bergen is a beautiful place. The people are great. What I found interesting is the people in Norway speak perfect American English with no trace of England English. What I find even more bizarre is how did you come across this Norwegian article? ...and as far as the doctor goes, I don't blame him one bit, I would have done the same!

Scandinavians speak better English than me! Alot learn from films, hence the more American slant on it. When I was in Helsinki, I was speaking to this guy in the local rock pub for ages and thought he was American, but he was a Helsinki native. Then later on a guy I believed to be English, I also found out was from Helsinki.

 

[pyhrrus13]

I'm not gonna bother to translate or read the whole thing. No matter how much you love Maiden, the Hippocratic Oath should supercede. If the headline is a ploy and it turns out the doctor had the patient's case under control, then it's no big thing. If a doctor walked away from the operating table so as not to miss a concert, that would be grounds to take their medical license. Or at least sentence them to a year of cleaning bedpans!

 

[pyhrrus13]

Scandinavians speak better English than me! Alot learn from films, hence the more American slant on it. When I was in Helsinki, I was speaking to this guy in the local rock pub for ages and thought he was American, but he was a Helsinki native. Then later on a guy I believed to be English, I also found out was from Helsinki.

English and the Scandinavian languages are all in the Germanic family of languages. If you see them in print you can make out many of the individual words even if you can't read the entirety of it.

Perhaps since they are speaking an earlier iteration of what became modern English, and because as you say many watch American TV and are educated in England, it may be more natural for them to pick up on our language than it is for us to pick up on theirs. Since English is the second language of most of the world, learning English in Europe is probably much like learning Spanish is in the Western Hemisphere - it's "the thing to do".

I do envy people who are fluently bilingual or multilingual. I picked up some Spanish by osmosis when I lived in Cali, it's a beautiful, musical language to me. I am nowhere near fluent, but I can work my way around a construction site or a restaurant!

 

[Red Shirt]

I'm not gonna bother to translate or read the whole thing. No matter how much you love Maiden, the Hippocratic Oath should supercede. If the headline is a ploy and it turns out the doctor had the patient's case under control, then it's no big thing. If a doctor walked away from the operating table so as not to miss a concert, that would be grounds to take their medical license. Or at least sentence them to a year of cleaning bedpans!

I agree with you. When I first read it I just skimmed over it and rememered the part of the doct saying he didn't think it was busy and had permission to leave. I just reread it and see other parts are conflicting. If he left when he shouldn't, that's definitely bad.

 

[Metallicat180]

Here is a translation from a Swedish newspaper that my friend did.


The gallstone patients were screaming in the corridors of the emergency reception - but no one came to their aid. The doctor had gone to an Iron Maiden concert.

-I have other jobs and I'm not afraid of losing this one, says Jan Øren, who's now being called the "rock doctor" in all of Norway.

When the lines were getting long at the emergency reception in Bergen, Jan Øren's collegue eventually came to realize he was alone. Soon it was revealed that Dr. Øren had attended a concert by British metal band Iron Maiden.

Led to huge fight

Now the 60-year-old is talking about the event two days ago that led to a huge fight and made a huge fuss in Norway.

-I hadn't really planned to go to the Iron Maiden concert and therefore didn't buy a ticket. But then I got an offer to attend as part of the medical personel team. Then I felt it could've been fun going, he tells VG.

Chaos

He requested the night off but didn't manage to find anyone willing to switch the shift with him. He didn't care. According to Bergens Tidende the situation at the ER soon became chaotic. A patient writhed in gallstone related pains but the lone doctor didn't have time to get to him. Shortly after midnight Jan Øren got a call saying he needed to go back to the hospital, which he did.

Øren also claims the concert visit was approved of by his collegues, that he'd tried to exchange both the night- and graveyard shift but only could exchange the night shift. The other doctors allegedly misunderstood he'd be absent.

Consequences await

That's however no excuse, according to his boss, and tomorrow Øren will be meeting with the hospital management. He's fully aware of the awaiting consequences.

But Jan Øren isn't worried. He says he makes more than a million a year and he's got more jobs available. He also talks about his big music interest:

-Rock music is my favorite, but honestly I listen to all kinds of music. Music is my hobby and I play guitar myself, but I'm not a typical Iron Maiden fan.

 

[pyhrrus13]

Well, there's some flakiness involved, but it seems he'd made some arrangements and was at the concert as part of medical staff. I'd say it's an in-between extremes situation. Seems administration and scheduling are also somewhat in the wrong. Can't shoot everybody, don't shoot anybody, and resolve to do better next time. Someone could legitimately fall and bust their head open if they had too much to drink at the show, too. It's not like he walked away from an operating table in mid-surgery. Small comfort to the gallstone patient though....

Thanks for the translation, Metallicat! Nice to know just what happened!

 

[Metallicat180]

You're welcome!