Fergus, indeed it is concerning, if true.
The issue i have is believing the story of someone behaving drunk, disorderly and agressively. In fact, behaving in a way in which she was clearly putting her own health at risk.
As suggested, some humility would help. I'm sure a post stating "i was a complete muppet, got drunk and arrested, but have concerns over the way the police handle people with diabetes" would have been received quite differently.
Agree that would be my approach, but perhaps the D&D side has overshadowed the "duty of care" aspects in this thread.
I am fed up with people who want to shift the blame for their own disgusting behaviour!
had my meeting with the Sergeant yesterday. He agreed I should've been allowed a phone call and things could've been handled differently as I was not abusive or aggressive to the police at any time. He has seen all of the CCTV footage and my complaint about my treatment in custody by one of the officers when I was like 'a woman possessed' in the cell has been taken seriously and they are getting a warning and their conduct will now be monitered. We spent over half an hour discussing diabetes. He now knows why we take insulin, what a hypo and hyper is and what causes them, some of the symptoms, (as we are all different) and how they can be resolved by either insulin or sugar. He completely understands why I reacted like I did in the cell without knowing what my BS was or have access to dextrose or insulin and why I refused to take my insulin as they wouldn't tell me how long I would be detained for and could potentially had a hypo. I showed him my 'Optimum Xceed' and the users guide and how just 2 spots of blood from the finger can determine a hypo and keytones that could both potentially lead to death if not treated. I showed him the web page and they cost £15 but are free to diabetics on prescription. He wrote the web site down and is going to take if further because he agrees that diabetics should have better treatment in custody and a monitor is all it takes. He's going to speak to his superiors about it and get the ball rolling!! RESULT!!! :thumbup: I said he might even get the monitors free because at the end of the day, they are for use by diabetics after all.
When he was leaving I said I'm gonna fight this all the way and if they don't get monitors I would like a meeting with the Chief Inspector for him to justify why. I also said that as Durham was one of the top 3 police forces in England, if they got monitors and went on 'look North' news to say why they now have them due to the amount of wasted time and money by just getting Drs to take BS alone and the stress caused to diabetics in custody, it might even start the ball rolling for the rest of the UK to follow.
That is modern society :thumbdown:
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