It seems I'm not the only one who wasn't aware that there are, apparently, individuals going around cutting people up and calling themselves 'surgeons' who don't actually have any medical qualifications. That was the appalling revelation made by the Royal College of Surgeons in its report of a survey carried out for its patient group. It's not the case that everyone who calls themselves a 'surgeon' is pretending to be something they are not. Podiatric surgeons, for example, are highly trained in treating the feet, but often don't have medical training as such. My alma mater accredited degree-level training in chiropody, as it was known then, but didn't have a medical school.
And even MPs claim to have 'surgeries', although the only one I know of to claim to be a surgeon actually was one.
It seems incredible that, at a time when there are plans to make will writing and estate administration protected activities, there is no regulation as to who can call themselves a surgeon. I suppose it must be because, if your 'surgeon' messes up and sends you to an untimely end, at least you'll know your affairs are in order.
What, I wonder, does the legal system make of someone offering expert testimony who isn't medically qualified? The only way of being sure, I suppose, is to check them against an expert witness directory for membership of a professional association.
On the subject of the expert witness directory, it obviously wasn't where the House of Commons looked for its IT consultants. The august body is currently spending more than £100,000 per year on such services, to offer "online usability" and "accessibility testing advice", according to Liberal Democrat MP John Thurso, quoted in the Public Service newsletter. Despite those grandiose-sounding made-up words, only 80% of users surveyed rated the site 'satisfactory' or better.
Meanwhile, that same publication reports a suggestion that an increase in military reservists from banks and similar organisations could boost the IT skills of the forces. Tim Corry, the director of Sabre, the organisation that promotes the benefit of having reservists as employees, told The Scotsman the military "...does not teach cyber skills per se. So we are talking about recruiting IT professionals. I would think a lot of them work for large banking companies, which have big security issues protecting their data."
I suppose it's cheaper than paying consultants, although I know where there's a hundred grand or so which could be better spent.
Our friends across the pond continue to come up with the most bizarre stories. One of best is reported in online newsletter Above the Law. It concerns an attorney in Indiana who is accused by police of setting up an elaborate booby trap to shoot HIMSELF in the back. Nobody knows why, according to the report. Maybe he missed his foot.
Chris Stokes