Ellee Seymour

BBC bosses could not ignore the one story which has this week hijacked all major global news stories in the British media – the  revolting Brand-Ross prank call.

It displaced the credit crunch, the Peter Mandelson/George  Osborne Corfu scandal and , as well as the looming American presidential elections, from the front pages of our national newspapers. It caused a national outrage.

The unprecedented furore which ensued led to the resignation of Russell Brand  – already suspended, along with Jonathan Ross, the £18 million highest paid star in BBC history, who apologised for his "juvenile and thoughtless remarks" in phone calls which the two entertainers made to Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs.

They involved lurid sexual comments about Sachs’ granddaughter Georgina Baillie, Brand’s former lover, which the two irresponsible men left on Sach’s answerphone, and was later played on Brand’s Radio 2 programme for millions of listeners. The content can be read here.

And boy, did the listeners complain;  27,000 of them voiced their outrage. Yet amazingly, the prerecorded show was passed by a senior BBC executive as fit to broadcast three days before it went out on air.

My guess is that the producer went along with it because it was too close to deadline, he didn’t want the inconvenience of scrapping it all and starting again from scratch. He also totally misinterpreted its viewers’ strong reaction. And, of course, Brand and Ross thought they were God and could get away with anything.

Sorry guys, but this cheap joke is going to cost you dear. It’s time you showed respect to women too, as well as your listeners.

So Wossy,, as a father of two daughters, how would you like it if this gag had been played on you? Would you be laughing?

It might now be pay back time for Wossy, who once boasted he was ‘worth 1,000 BBC journalists’ after a wave of mass redundancies had been announced. What goes round, comes round, and the BBC can employ a few more journalists….

But now, it’s surely time to focus on other important matters of the day which will affect all our lives.

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Have you ever sought a second medical opinion? This story in The Mail describes how seeking a second opinion saved the lives of patients who were incorrectly diagnosed, including a woman whose mouth cancer was dismissed as post-natal depression, while a patient with a brain tumour was thought to have a virus.

It is worrying reading. But on the whole, our doctors do their best, and we have to rely on their professional judgement. But what if they are wrong, as sometimes can be case, or struggling to make a correct diagnosis?

I have had personal experience of this which is why I strongly recommend seeking a second opinion too if you have strong concerns about a medical diagnosis. I had to do that when David was in agonising pain after his jawbone swelled. Because he was not a text book case, even the top consultant at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge was unable to discover what it was and how to help me. He infuriated me by repeatedly asking David if he was happy at school.

Eventually, I rang my GP in tears after David had been referred for cognitive therapy to help him cope with his terrible pain, yet anyone could see his jawbone was hideously protruding.

My GP told me she had no idea where to send David as his case was so unusual. I could only think of Great Ormond Street Hosptial, the best children’s hospital in the country, and she agreed.

It was the best thing I ever did and David was, for the first time, given a nuclear scan which identified his "hot spots" and chronic osteomyelitis. He had fantastic care and treatment. I thanked them for believing us.

David is now virtually recovered, thankfully avoiding any need for major surgery. His last outbreak of pain was last Easter.

If we hadn’t been referred to GOS, I have no idea what the outcome would have been.

So please, do not hesitate if your instincts tell you something is wrong. The chances are, you are right.

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