A Fixed Back

I suffer from pretty bad back pain so this story really stood out to me today. A fourteen year old girl underwent an 11 hour long operation to correct a dramatic twisting of her spine- it was so bad that she was bullied about her appearance, being nicknamed the "hunchback of Notre Dame". You really need to see the photo of her X-ray for the full impact.

Jessica was diagnosed with scoliosis 16 months ago when she was having a dress fitted and the tailor spotted her crooked shoulders.

Her parents Kevin, 42, and Ange, 44, took her to the doctors and she was referred for an operation but had to wait 16 months before having surgery.

She was due to have the op just before Christmas but because of a backlog of patients she was told she would have to wait four more painful months.

During that time her spine continued to twist out of shape and she had to prop herself up on five pillows in order to get a good night's sleep.

She could only walk by shuffling sideways to relief the pressure on her hips and doctors feared her heart was at risk because her ribs were squashing her arteries.

Oh yeah- and look how wonderful our government-run health care system is too. She only had to suffer needlessly and have her life endangered for a few months longer than necessary.