My 26 year-old nephew Toby was killed outside Liverpool in August 2006 by a truck driven by someone suffering from undiagnosed sleep apnoea who had fallen asleep at the wheel. After last year's the inquest into Toby’s death, the coroner reported in August 2008 that the truck driver had visited his general practitioner during April 2006 complaining of tiredness. Blood and urine samples were taken to test for diabetes, and when the results were returned negative he was advised that he was most probably suffering from stress. Critically, sleep apnoea was not diagnosed.
Regular readers of Fortnightly Mailing will know that over the last 18 months, with the support of a wide range of people with medical, legal, and technical knowledge, in the UK and further afield, I and Toby's immediate family have been campaigning in a low key way for a coherent and evidence based framework that:
In the early hours of this morning my MP Meg Munn, Labour and Cooperative Party Member of Parliament for Sheffield Heeley, spoke lucidly in a 30 minute adjournment debate in the House of Commons, achieving a really clear synthesis of the issues, and gaining agreement that the relevant Minister (Jim Fitzpatrick) will now meet Meg Munn and others to consider them. The official transcript of Meg Munn's speech gives a clear insight into what the real work of backbench MPs can and should consist of.
Regular readers of Fortnightly Mailing will know that over the last 18 months, with the support of a wide range of people with medical, legal, and technical knowledge, in the UK and further afield, I and Toby's immediate family have been campaigning in a low key way for a coherent and evidence based framework that:
- makes clear the connection between obesity and obstructive sleep apnoea;
- indicates the likely prevalence of the condition among vocational drivers, given the prevalence of obesity among them;
- encourages general practitioners to identify and treat potential cases of sleep apnoea;
- requires vocational drivers or certainly the obese amongst them to be regularly screened for sleep apnoea, rather than only once they reach age 45.
In the early hours of this morning my MP Meg Munn, Labour and Cooperative Party Member of Parliament for Sheffield Heeley, spoke lucidly in a 30 minute adjournment debate in the House of Commons, achieving a really clear synthesis of the issues, and gaining agreement that the relevant Minister (Jim Fitzpatrick) will now meet Meg Munn and others to consider them. The official transcript of Meg Munn's speech gives a clear insight into what the real work of backbench MPs can and should consist of.
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