He's Alive!

Urban le Grandier dropped me a line to let me know that Dr Crippen is not dead; he has been the subject of a rather cruel hoax on NHS Blog Doctor. Someone calling themselves Dr P falsely said that he had died in a road accident,and then posted on another blog saying it was all a hoax.

I'm delighted that John is alive,furious at the idiot who did this to him,and feeling slightly sheepish,because I wrote him an obituary.

But hey, you shouldn't wait until someone's dead to let them know what you think of him, so I'm just leaving it up.Hope you enjoy it John. Please post soon. And as to what I think of the person who pulled this stunt, it's just as well I have my parental filter on...

RIP John Crippen

It is with great sadness that I pass on the news that John Crippen aka NHS Blog Doctor, has passed away.

John made his last post in mid October. He did not post for a while and we wondered what had happened. He had already taken a break from blogging and we thought that maybe he had simply burnt out. The dreadful news came yesterday in a post put on the blog by his fellow practitioner that he had died in a traffic accident. By this time there were 128 comments on his blog asking where he was; a mark of how revered he was amongst medical bloggers.

John's blog was funny,vitriolic,bilious and insightful by turns. Above all it was fearless and it made a difference. He was the first to report on the loopholes in the MMC scandal; he wrote touching posts about mental health and he raged against the destruction of his profession which he was passionate about. He wrote the kind of posts that got thundering denunciations and standing ovations at the same time. The blogging world will be very much poorer without him. The rest of us have a class act to follow.

John, I hope where you are there are no PFI hospitals, crap IT systems, joke turds undusted and no Patricia Hewitt. We will miss you dreadfully. Put in a word with the Big Man for those of us who are still carrying on the fight. And enjoy your rest - you've had your share of hell already. RIP.