Food for thought

16th September

I’ve just been lying in bed, idly perusing my day’s thoughts, and have put together two things I noticed this week in stark contrast.
The hospital i’m working in has a strong connection with the armed forces based in the area, and as such i’m seeing lots of military personnel as patients, as well as working alongside them. One soldier in particular came into the minor injuries unit with the latest in a long run of bouts of tonsillitis. Why did I take note of him? Partly because his was the worst looking throat i’ve ever seen. Mainly because he’s only seventeen. He looks barely ready to shave, is dressed in a hoodie and trainers just like any other kid, and is visibly scared of the needle I have to put into his arm.

This afternoon, I saw a similar seventeen year old lad. He’d come to A&E for an x-ray, in a shirt advertising his employer, after an accident at work. Not an unusual situation at all. The oddity was that he wasn’t treated in the minor injuries unit, but in the paediatric area. I saw him in a cubicle with brightly coloured curtains and Toy Story characters hanging from the ceiling.

Seventeen is apparently old enough to be put in the firing line, but young enough to have a child protection form filled in about you. A 17 year old can be shot at in the name of democracy, but can’t vote for or against the government who put him there, because they say he’s not an adult. What is with that?