Thursday, 15 November 2007

Is this the stupidest question ever asked?

Today, at the grotesquely pointless charade that is the Diana inquest in London, Michael Mansfield, the lawyer spearheading Mohammed al Fayed's assault on the original decision that Diana died because she had been killed in a car crash, asked the French doctor who led the emergency team treating her, Professor Bruno Riou, if a pregnancy test had been done on the princess.

Riou had already made clear that in 30 years he had never treated a patient as seriously injured as Diana for the simple reason that every patient with comparable injuries had been dead by the time they reached hospital.

When Diana, still just alive, did arrive, a preliminary X-ray revealed extensive internal bleeding. It was decided to cut her chest open. This revealed a major tear to her pulmonary artery. Her heart then stopped beating. For almost two hours, efforts were made to resucitate her. The attempt was then abandoned.

And, guess what, during all this effort, at no point did anyone think a pregnancy test might have been necessary.

Riou's answer to Mansfield's question was straight forward: 'No, she was dying.'

Whatever his fondness for asking awkward questions, Mansfield would be better off asking himself a much more basic question: What am I doing taking part in this pitiful business?

6 comments:

The Sage of Muswell Hill said...

"What am I [Mansfield] doing taking part in this pitiful business?"

1. For the money
2. It furthers my pathetically trendy agenda of "fighting" the old "establishment" (forgetting that I'm a fixture of the new one).

Bog Exile said...

Michael Mansfield's ego is dwarfed only by his gut. He does very well with his snout tucked into the anti-esstablishment trough. is he blissfully unaware of the irony? Probably.

But standby for a new DoH directive - all A&E departments must pregnancy test all trauma victims on reception. Even men.

The Creator said...

The whole thing is grotesque. Bad enough that Diana was killed in such sordid circumstances. Worse still that she left behind two young boys. Much, much worse that she then gets turned into a kind of saint.

But there was never any doubt what happened. It was a car crash. However terrible, it was hardly a mystery.

But now, laughably, 10 years later, in order to placate a seriously nasty man, the whole business has to be dug up again.

Sure enough, the likes of Mansfield cash in.

Anyone else feel like throwing up?

Still, as you say bog exile, no doubt a new DoH directive will follow.

Henry North London 2.0 said...

I heard from someone in the Peerage that the Royal embalmer had told him she was two months pregnant

I knew that by 12.30 on the day we all found she was dead...

Strange how she was embalmed eh?

Anonymous said...

'I heard from someone...'

Did you hear it dahn the pub?
Was he a geezer who knew people who knew people?

Henry North London 2.0 said...

No dear boy he was the ninth Earl of Brooke and Warwick