brain bleed

[Rosemarie]

I am glad you will be going home, but very sorry to hear that there will be lasting damage. I hope that you are successful in any legal action you may pursue, as it clearly seems to be needed considering the way you were treated.

[Guest Farnsbarns]

 

 

 

if I had a crystal ball, i'd see some self defense classes in your future Farns.......

 

Actually I am 6 foot and bulky and I can handle myself, I used to box. I made the conscious decision not to fight back because by not getting involved in the punching I was able to keep an eye on the stairs and tracks (tracks are live over here) and avoid what I thought at the time was the real danger. If I had fought back I feel confident I would have come out on top. If memory serves (and it really might not to be fair) he was really quite a lot smaller than me although he knew how to throw a punch. Some times the best defence is a measured and calculated thought process. The station staff were trying to convince the police of my mature and sensible reaction but they weren't having a bean of it. Sometimes I think some policemen see a drunk person as an opportunity to be antagonistic and get a reaction so they can all jump in and get some excitement in the shift. Ho hum.....

 

I'll be going to the station tomorrow to talk to the staff and see what their thought were/are on the police officers' handling of it.

 

Edit: oops, I should mention that the attack happened on the train station platform.

[Namvet]

Thanks for all the good wishes, I really appreciate that. I should be going home today with any luck. There is lasting damage unfortunately, they think it will be limited to difficulty concentrating bit no one knows really.

 

I just want to say that there is good and bad in all proffesions and that goes for the police and nurses/doctors too. Because we rely so heavily on police and hospitals the bad ones are very noticeable and have a huge impact on us. A bad mechanic or shop assistant goes almost un-noted. Of course, bad coppers and bad nurses need weeding out where as bad shop assistants are cheap and keep prices low so we accept them. I do intend to take action because going quietly home and saying nothing results in the next person that police officer attends having a similar experience and that is not something I'll sit by and ignore.

 

Hooray for you [thumbup]

[kidblast]

Shocking news Farns,,, Please get well soon... keep us posted on your progress,

-best

/Ray

[RowdyMoon]

Damn that blows.....the cops? well most of them are young power trippin testosterone filled dimwitted jerkwads anyways so doesn't surprise me of the response you got from them, sounds like a case of " well she was dressed sexy so she deserved to get raped " attitude. .....but the hospital..damn that is unacceptable on their part...

[Edlo]

Last night I was attacked on my way home. I was punched repeatedly. The police were called but because I was a little drunk they took the attitude that it must have been my own fault, they had no interest in whether I was injured. A couple of hours later, at home, I started feeling very woozy, sick and headachey. When I realised my vision was going blury I really started worrying. Then I started slipping in and out of consciousness and my wife called an ambulance. I was taken to hospital and x-rayed, even one of the nurses said I should just go home and sober up. After that I started pushing to be taken seriously and was given a CT scan. That's when they realised I had a brain bleed. I am still in hospital until at least tomorrow.

 

If you're young and you've dared to enjoy a few pints all establishments assume you're trouble in this country. It's sickening.

Now that you're in the hospital have you contacted the authorities again? In any case get well soon and be safe.

[Searcy]

Very glad to hear you are on the mend!!

[deeman]

Bunch of savages in the world. In Chicago I have to worry about gang bangers with guns and getting caught up in the cross fire. Typically no 'beatings' around here, just the flashing of a gun and the immediate compliance of white people to hand over their wallets and cell phones. What worries me is that the train station typically is a 'safe spot' for me if i'm out in the city. Hope you get better bro.

[badbluesplayer]

Get well, man. Stay safe.

[capmaster]

Thanks for all the good wishes, I really appreciate that. I should be going home today with any luck. There is lasting damage unfortunately, they think it will be limited to difficulty concentrating bit no one knows really.

 

I just want to say that there is good and bad in all proffesions and that goes for the police and nurses/doctors too. Because we rely so heavily on police and hospitals the bad ones are very noticeable and have a huge impact on us. ... I do intend to take action because going quietly home and saying nothing results in the next person that police officer attends having a similar experience and that is not something I'll sit by and ignore.

I hope that your limitations will go away with the ongoing healing process. In order to support your recovery, I think you should avoid excitements and try to stay as serene as possible. Basically I agree with you that it is important to clear the situation, but please try to handle it in a way that complies with your need of recreation.

 

Actually I am 6 foot and bulky and I can handle myself, I used to box. I made the conscious decision not to fight back because by not getting involved in the punching I was able to keep an eye on the stairs and tracks (tracks are live over here) and avoid what I thought at the time was the real danger. If I had fought back I feel confident I would have come out on top. If memory serves (and it really might not to be fair) he was really quite a lot smaller than me although he knew how to throw a punch. Some times the best defence is a measured and calculated thought process. The station staff were trying to convince the police of my mature and sensible reaction but they weren't having a bean of it. Sometimes I think some policemen see a drunk person as an opportunity to be antagonistic and get a reaction so they can all jump in and get some excitement in the shift. Ho hum.....

 

I'll be going to the station tomorrow to talk to the staff and see what their thought were/are on the police officers' handling of it.

 

Edit: oops, I should mention that the attack happened on the train station platform.

Sadly I have to say that even only the assumption one may be drunk can make policemen (which says male police officers in my case) behave unreasonably and irrationally, especially if no other witnesses are present. This happened to me in Munich on January 6th, 1986, 12:20 a.m., I stayed cool, and when finally the alcohol test resulted in 0.00 per mill they became rather quiet.

 

I didn't give in at the lawcourt, too. I successfully applied for adjournment in the first sitting since there was only one of the policemen present. Therefore I applied to question both of them separately, and the judge accepted my motion. Thereafter the appointment was delayed two times because always one of the policemen was "in a hospital" as I was told in both cases by a policeman who located me at home the evening before.

 

On September 29th, 1986 I won the lawsuit on its fourth appointment and second sitting of the court without a lawyer. It was my exact memory of what they had written in their protocol which finally convinced the judge. Although I hadn't seen it a second time which is possible with a lawyer only, I knew it down to the details, and this was my reason to try it all alone. I think it doesn't happen very often in lawsuits that one civil defendant without a lawyer overcomes two policemen being the only witnesses.

 

In your case, I think it may be helpful that the station staff will give their witness reports. It can be important that they are allowed to talk to police officers who don't try to intimidate them in order to protect those who came the evening you were attacked, and so are involved in this matter.

[bonzoboy]

The response and conduct of the police as well as the nurse was appalling.Both of these "professionals" should be fully aware that muggers and the like are generally cowards who usually attack from behind,preying on women or people who are showing obvious signs of impairment.I would lodge a formal complaint about this to the higher-ups of both because the last thing these professions need are people who are void of any kind of empathy.In the meantime I hope that your pain and discomfort are short-lived and that you're back to normal in no time.

 

I had a similar experience one night while stumbling home from a night of over-imbibing.While passing the hospital at the end of my street I found an elderly man who wore a Legion blazer and insignia lying half-dazed on the sidewalk with his forehead bleeding profusely.He had obviously been at the nearby Legion club.I asked him what had happened,he said that he tripped and fell.I tried to help him get up but he would have no part of it but he did agree to let me take him to the Emerg. that was just a few yards away.While he was getting up h fell again hitting his head on the curb with such an audible smack that my stomach actually turned.

 

Anyway we made it to the Emerg. and the triage nurse saw him and after I had told her about the smack he had given himself, she summoned the doctor,who was obviously foreign,and she refused to see him because he was drunk,as I pressured her about the hit his head had taken she told me that I was drunk too and for both of us to leave.I then kind of lost it.Despite being inebriated I was a medical professional for over 30 years-which I reminded her and I admitted that I was drunk but by no means stupid and said that considering the force with which his head hit the curb he may well have a concussion.The arrogant biootch then asked if that was my "Expert medical opinion" which really set me off,I can stand just about anything thrown at me but when someone speaks to me in a condescending,patronizing manner I go into verbal attack mode.I told her that you don't have to be a mechanic to know that your car isn't running right and after taking numerous Red Cross Emergency Response and First Aid courses I knew full well that severe blows to the head should never be shrugged off or ignored and should be attended to and investigated,I got another dig in and said that any Canadian trained med student would learn this in their first Med school.That little put-down drew considerable grins from the staff standing by causing me to suspect that this woman's superiority complex was obviously well known and didn't endear herself to them either.I then rubbed salt into the wounds by saying that this man was a veteran who-despite being drunk deserved the utmost respect from everyone for risking his life to keep us free and that heroes such as he should be treated better than royalty.This final verbal volley really made sure that she would be regarded as being a first class heel if she refused to see him now so he was led to a treatment room.I stumbled the rest of the way home with an obvious swagger in my stagger after that small victory.

[Guest Farnsbarns]

Thanks again everyone. I'm at home now and beggining to understand what they meant by "struggling to concentrate". I find it far too easy to drift of into day dream. Anything any one says starts me of thinking about something else that a single word makes me think of. I keep having to tell myself to forget those rambling thought chains and get my head back into what I should be thinking about. Quite strange and hard to describe. It even happens when I'm talking to someone, my mind just drifts. My mind has wanders a couple of times as I'm writing this and I've had to come back to it. I haven't trued playing a guitar yet.

 

The British transport police are now investigating and they say that the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service), who handle prosecutions like this, will probably go after a GBH charge as apposed to ABH. ABH being actual bodily harm so anything that leaves you with an injury like a nasty bruise or chipped tooth and GBH being grievous bodily harm which means more serious and lasting injury.

 

The police had stills from the CCTV already yesterday and were waiting for the moving footage and contact from me to say I wanted to press charges, remembering they had no idea how serious the injuries were until I contacted them back. They didn't know I was holed up in hospital.

[capmaster]

The response and conduct of the police as well as the nurse was appalling.Both of these "professionals" should be fully aware that muggers and the like are generally cowards who usually attack from behind,preying on women or people who are showing obvious signs of impairment.I would lodge a formal complaint about this to the higher-ups of both because the last thing these professions need are people who are void of any kind of empathy.In the meantime I hope that your pain and discomfort are short-lived and that you're back to normal in no time.

 

I had a similar experience one night while stumbling home from a night of over-imbibing.While passing the hospital at the end of my street I found an elderly man who wore a Legion blazer and insignia lying half-dazed on the sidewalk with his forehead bleeding profusely.He had obviously been at the nearby Legion club.I asked him what had happened,he said that he tripped and fell.I tried to help him get up but he would have no part of it but he did agree to let me take him to the Emerg. that was just a few yards away.While he was getting up h fell again hitting his head on the curb with such an audible smack that my stomach actually turned.

 

Anyway we made it to the Emerg. and the triage nurse saw him and after I had told her about the smack he had given himself, she summoned the doctor,who was obviously foreign,and she refused to see him because he was drunk,as I pressured her about the hit his head had taken she told me that I was drunk too and for both of us to leave.I then kind of lost it.Despite being inebriated I was a medical professional for over 30 years-which I reminded her and I admitted that I was drunk but by no means stupid and said that considering the force with which his head hit the curb he may well have a concussion.The arrogant biootch then asked if that was my "Expert medical opinion" which really set me off,I can stand just about anything thrown at me but when someone speaks to me in a condescending,patronizing manner I go into verbal attack mode.I told her that you don't have to be a mechanic to know that your car isn't running right and after taking numerous Red Cross Emergency Response and First Aid courses I knew full well that severe blows to the head should never be shrugged off or ignored and should be attended to and investigated,I got another dig in and said that any Canadian trained med student would learn this in their first Med school.That little put-down drew considerable grins from the staff standing by causing me to suspect that this woman's superiority complex was obviously well known and didn't endear herself to them either.I then rubbed salt into the wounds by saying that this man was a veteran who-despite being drunk deserved the utmost respect from everyone for risking his life to keep us free and that heroes such as he should be treated better than royalty.This final verbal volley really made sure that she would be regarded as being a first class heel if she refused to see him now so he was led to a treatment room.I stumbled the rest of the way home with an obvious swagger in my stagger after that small victory.

 

 

Thanks again everyone. I'm at home now and beggining to understand what they meant by "struggling to concentrate". I find it far too easy to drift of into day dream. Anything any one says starts me of thinking about something else that a single word makes me think of. I keep having to tell myself to forget those rambling thought chains and get my head back into what I should be thinking about. Quite strange and hard to describe. It even happens when I'm talking to someone, my mind just drifts. My mind has wanders a couple of times as I'm writing this and I've had to come back to it. I haven't trued playing a guitar yet.

 

The British transport police are now investigating and they say that the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service), who handle prosecutions like this, will probably go after a GBH charge as apposed to ABH. ABH being actual bodily harm so anything that leaves you with an injury like a nasty bruise or chipped tooth and GBH being grievous bodily harm which means more serious and lasting injury.

 

The police had stills from the CCTV already yesterday and were waiting for the moving footage and contact from me to say I wanted to press charges, remembering they had no idea how serious the injuries were until I contacted them back. They didn't know I was holed up in hospital.

Sometimes people seem to lack the kind of common sense that should simply tell them that somebody is in urgent need of help. It is not a solace that this is not basically new - I know of some events twenty or thirty years ago where ignorance, disinterest and prejudices appeared to be the very trouble - but I think that the nowadays society hasn't learned from it. Sometimes it seems to me that modern media and camera surveying make people do anything to become famous - such as Pisistratos thousands of years ago who set the Artemis temple on fire so that everyone remembers his name - it's really nothing new, and in this case it worked...

[Valeriy]

Farnsbarns, recover, I hope all will be well with you.

[Flight959]

It always grates me when I read threads like this!

 

Its starts off with Farns telling us how he got assaulted and what happened, and without the full picture, everyone wades in with how crap the police response always is or how unprofessional the medical staff were. Maybe its the facts or utter embarrassment that makes me feel this way, after all the officers that let Farns down are colleagues of mine! Its always bash bash bash for everyone except the suspect. The sad fact of incidents like these is that if this suspect is caught, he will go to court, get handed a worthless community order and guess what! that will be fault of the police too and not the criminal justice system.

 

We in the UK live in a society where a Service upholds the law and a Force delivers parcels!

 

I have advised Farns to make a complaint and I wish him a speedy recovery!

[Guest Farnsbarns]

It always grates me when I read threads like this!

 

Its starts off with Farns telling us how he got assaulted and what happened, and without the full picture, everyone wades in with how crap the police response always is or how unprofessional the medical staff were. Maybe its the facts or utter embarrassment that makes me feel this way, after all the officers that let Farns down are colleagues of mine! Its always bash bash bash for everyone except the suspect. The sad fact of incidents like these is that if this suspect is caught, he will go to court, get handed a worthless community order and guess what! that will be fault of the police too and not the criminal justice system.

 

We in the UK live in a society where a Service upholds the law and a Force delivers parcels!

 

I have advised Farns to make a complaint and I wish him a speedy recovery!

 

This is true. I'm my first post I did generalise a bit and I saw that I should be fair later, hence my post pointing out that there is good and bad in every profession. In my defence, my first post was made from the misery of a hospital bed soon after some shocking failures. It was largely an emotional response which was a bit unfair.

 

Everyone on here has done a bad days work or made a mistake that they really shouldn't but when it's a police officer or medical professional the impact it has makes us emotional and that's when unfair generalization happens. There are a lot of very good, brave, consiencious police officers out there and we should all be grateful for everyone of them.

[milod]

As a family member of law enforcement folks as well as a reporter covering cops, I'd say that it's a job I'd care to do in terms of regular "street patrol."

 

Some "cops" who know me fairly well, for example, know I'd volunteer any time to do almost anything with 'em if bullets or whatever were flying or on a blizzard-whipped winter rescue. But I'll stay in their patrol car if there's a domestic violence situation. That latter is far too dangerous from my perspective, and I'm not kidding.

 

OTOH, I think "urban" cops have so many contacts that it's more difficult for them to separate various appearances and stories. Let's just say that an error remains an error, but I find such an error more easily understood for urban police than here in the boonies - and even here it's at times too easy for an officer with six things happening at once to recognize what may have caused an injury of an evening when there's alcohol in the air. There are some tough calls, most are correctly estimated and some few ain't.

 

m

[capmaster]

Being unable to decide if someone is in need of medical help, every police officer should leave this to a physician, and every physician should do his job thoroughly. Everybody should admit to be simply unable to evaluate any given situation, and in case of injuries there should always rule caution. I think that every police officer had to learn that saving lives and saving people from irreparable damage to health and sanity has a clear priority over investigation or whatever else.

[Guest Farnsbarns]

What a strange day....

 

Went back to work today (yes, I know, I shouldn't have but i can't afford the time off). On my way to work I have to change trains at the station where this happened. Found myself reading a poster appealing for witnesses to an assault. I got all the way to the end of it before it clicked that it was with reference to me.

[kidblast]

egads!

 

I hope you're doing well these days brother...

 

/Ray

[btoth76]

I hope You're alright now.

 

Sad world we live in.

 

Bence

[D28boy]

Glad to hear that you're on the mend....I've heard playing the guitar can have great therapeutic fx..give it a go

[Guest Farnsbarns]

I'm afraid I'm a bloody fool. Went back to work yesterday as and it wasn't great but I got through the day. Went in today and started to feel really bad. Ended up coming home. That won't go down well.

[Rabs]

I'm afraid I'm a bloody fool. Went back to work yesterday as and it wasn't great but I got through the day. Went in today and started to feel really bad. Ended up coming home. That won't go down well.

Yeah I think we all do that.. I had an exploded appendix a few years back.. I literally nearly died, there was just a few hours in it...

 

Then after I had surgery I tried going back to work within the month.. BAD mistake.. I then got a secondary infection that almost killed me again (due to no one believing that I was actually still not better).. I then spent 3 weeks with a tube hanging out of my back that had to be drained and cleaned every other day...

 

Eventually I think it took five months before I could even attempt going back. And even then I had to try and avoid the rush hour or it was too stressful.

 

But the moral being that after a serious illness or issue with your body, you REALLY gotta give yourself proper time to heal, sadly that gets longer and longer as you get older.

[Cougar]

A couple of hours later, at home, I started feeling very woozy, sick and headachey. When I realised my vision was going blury I really started worrying. Then I started slipping in and out of consciousness and my wife called an ambulance...

 

Wow. Traumatic brain injury. Good to hear you're not dead, which is what happened to Natasha Richardson after she banged her head while skiing. I take it they did not drill a hole in your skull to relieve the pressure. Must have been a fair-sized bleed, since small ones don't even show up in MRIs. Really sorry to hear about this!