Dr Quincy Wins it Again!

For those of you who don't know and those of you who are too proud to admit to knowing what I'm talking about Dr Quincy is the eponymous hero of the TV show Quincy, ME. This show which ran between 1976 and 1984 centres around the exploits of a Los Angeles Coroner as he tenaciously investigates murders and brings the guilty to justice. The show is widely respected as the genesis for all those forensic cop shows and medical mystery dramas like CSI, NCIS, House and Medical Investigation that you see on TV today. This lineage is made even more impressive by the fact that over its eight year run Quincy, ME only really ever had three story lines;

1. A person is killed and the police either mistakenly think it's an accident or have accused and innocent man of the crime. Battling the police, his bosses and the corrupt politicians at City Hall Quincy investigates the crime properly and wins justice for the victim.

2. Someone drops dead from an exotic disease like Anthrax, Meningitis or Botulism. Quincy then faces a race against time to prevent a public heath disaster often having to battle the police, his bosses and the corrupt politicians at City Hall on the way.

3. Someone drops dead and although it's often just a tragic accident the circumstances are linked to an important social issue of the day. As Quincy investigates the case the people he meets are forced to shoehorn into the dialogue long polemics warning of the need for legislation to reduce air pollution, the short comings of privatised health care, the dangers of drugs or the evils of punk rock music.

While waiting for that Scene of Crime Officer back in August I filled my time by watching an episode of Quincy that fell firmly into the third category. In the episode "Whatever happened to Morris Pearlmutter" a famous actress in her twilight years was found dead apparently murdered by a street punk. During the course of the investigation Quincy befriends one of the dead woman's friends, an actor who has just been offered the leading role in a live TV drama examining societies attitudes to aging. The problem is that, being in his seventies, the actor is having trouble remembering his lines and worries that he is descending into senile dementia. Being an honourable doctor and an amiable chap Quincy vows to help him only to be warned by Mrs Quincy, a psychiatrist, not to jump to conclusions because; "Senile dementia is frequently mis-diagnosed in elderly patients. Their problems are often caused by an underlying illness, emotional distress or the over prescription of drugs. It's all too easy for a lazy doctor to assign a diagnosis of dementia and simply leave the patient to suffer." Quincy heeds the advice, helps the actor learn his lines, catches the killer and still has time to be on hand to watch the actor deliver and barnstorming performance in the TV show and receive a standing ovation.

I only bring this up now because after a few days of, er, encouragement my father today decided to summon the doctor to discuss if my grandmother's apparently worsening senility might be due to the fact she is being prescribed 60mg of codeine daily as a long term pain management solution and 125mcg of Omeprazole (a treatment for stomach ulcers that causes disturbed sleep and confusion) for no apparent medical reason. The doctors first solution was to offer urine and blood tests. She then suggested a memory test and a CAT scan before finally trying to insist on yet more drugs. However after being pressed on the matter she couldn't provide a medical justification for the existing prescriptions so the codeine's out and the omeprazole is on it's way out pending a wider review because if you want to give someone stomach ulcers then pumping them full of prescription pills is a pretty good way to go about it.

As for that episode of Quincy, ME it was first broadcast in 1983 so I'm not too worried about giving away the secrets of cutting edge medical research. Besides it's becoming increasingly obvious that Croydon Primary Care Trust know exactly what they're doing.