Cinven buys BUPA hospitals are renames them Spire

http://www.cinven.com/investment_info.a ... panyID=141

As follow up to Mike Hitchen’s find on Gerry McCanns’s private practice as a consultant in cardiac radiology at Spire Healthcare, Leicester, I think we need a list of Gerry McCann’s recent publications.

Gerry combines his private consultancy at Spire with his work in the Cardiology Department, University Hospitals Leicester. Currently, he’s also accredited for publication purposes as a member of Department of Cardiology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Gerry has several medical publications this year. Here’s what I find:

J Cardiovasc Magn Reson. 2007;9(5):815-21.
Bondarenko O, Beek AM, Nijveldt R, McCann GP, van Dockum WG, Hofman MB, Twisk JW, Visser CA, van Rossum AC. Department of Cardiology, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Functional Outcome after Revascularization in Patients with Chronic Ischemic Heart Disease: A Quantitative Late Gadolinium Enhancement CMR Study Evaluating Transmural Scar Extent, Wall Thickness and Periprocedural Necrosis.
Circulation. 2007 Jul 3;116(1)
Schmitt M, Samani N, McCann G.
No Abstract Images in cardiovascular medicine. Lipomatous metaplasia in ischemic cardiomyopathy: a common but unappreciated entity.
Am J Cardiol. 2007 Feb 15;99(4):563-7. Epub 2007 Jan 2.
McCann GP, Van Dockum WG, Beek AM, Nijveldt R, Ten Cate FJ, Ten Berg JM, Van Rossum AC. Cardiology Department, University Hospitals Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom. Extent of myocardial infarction and reverse remodeling assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance in patients with and without right bundle branch block following alcohol septal ablation for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
1 Dr. McCann was supported by a clinical training fellowship from the European Society of Cardiology, Sophia Antipolis, France, and by the East Midlands Heart Research Fund, Leicester, United Kingdom.
AJR 2007; 188:349-355 © American Roentgen Ray Society
Gerry P. McCann1,2, C. T. Gan3, Aernout M. Beek2, Hans W. M. Niessen4, Anton Vonk Noordegraaf3 and Albert C. van Rossum21 Department of Cardiology, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Extent of MRI Delayed Enhancement of Myocardial Mass Is Related to Right Ventricular Dysfunction in Pulmonary Artery Hypertension
2 Present address: Department of Cardiology, Glenfield Hospital, Groby Rd., Leicester LE3 9QP, United Kingdom.
Europace. 2007 Feb;9(2):134-6. Epub 2007 Jan 11.
Swanson N, Goddard M, McCann G, Ng GA.
Department of Cardiology, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester, UK. Sarcoidosis presenting with tachy- and brady-arrhythmias.
Gerry McCann has published more than 20 articles since 1998 mostly under “McCann GP�?and a few under “McCann G�?

(Gerry McCann is not to be confused with the Merseyside “McCann G�?who publishes on topics of forensic mental health.)

Tags: Cardiology, Gerry McCann, Madeleine McCann, publications
http://trialbasis.com/gerry-mccanns-med ... ons-55.htm

Thursday, 23rd of August 2007. Gerry McCann, father of Madeleine McCann, the British girl missing since May, gave a remarkable interview to Radio Four's Today programme. Knowing that any real news was thin on the ground, yet desperate- some would say obliged- to keep the case in media circulation, Mr McCann elected to use the five minute interview to reveal the results of a poll he and his wife had commissioned, upon the wisdom or otherwise of a single European register for convicted sex offenders. Unsurprisingly, considering the question was being put to them by the the father of the most famous 'abduction' victim since Charles Augustus Lindbergh, those surveyed were strongly in favour. (An impressive 97 percent.) Meanwhile, tens of thousands of listeners all over Britain wondered what the consultant cardiologist was doing polling bureaucrats whilst his four year-old daughter, and her captor, remained unaccounted for. That such a register would lead unerringly towards a single European police force- under the guise of the 'war on paedos'- could not have been a motivating factor in Mr McCann's thinking. After all, such a conception would require for the parents to be executing some bizarre government-backed conspiracy, dreamt up long before the evening in early May when their daughter was last seen alive. No, this was just another one of Mr McCann's Richard Madeleley moments; and it isn't as if the public has not grown accustomed to those.

Except that this was not the first time that he had sought to divert attention away from the missing girl with behaviour more suited to an electoral campaign. A three-day summit to the United States last month saw Gerry pressing flesh with the Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales; as well as staff from the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington. And yet, in stressing 'the sheer scale of the problem', Mr McCann not only contradicted his earlier excuses for leaving his three children unattended ('the chances of this happening are in the order of one hundred million to one') but flew in the face of the FBI's own report; which advises that 'most missing children are not abducted' and that 'nonparental abductions are comparatively rare.' It goes on to cite examples where investigators encounter 'false allegations of abduction. Typically,' it states, 'a parent or primary caregiver perpetrates these cases. They report a child as missing or abducted to hide their involvement in the child's death or conceal their knowledge of the child's location.'

Back in Portugal, the McCanns- in partnership with the News of the World- drew up a list of pointers, based upon the Code Adam scheme in the States, advising parents what to do in the event of a child disappearing on holiday. They propose that this system be named Code Madeleine. Next, they launch a new YouTube channel. The First Lady, Laura Bush, gets involved; delivering a creepy, unblinking address urging viewers to 'study the faces of these missing children... especially the child's eyes and expression', and to join the effort to protect the vulnerable 'in our global society.' Kate McCann uses the YouTube soapbox to call for an Amber Alert system (named after nine-year old Amber Hagerman, abducted and murdered in Texas in 1996) to be put in place across the whole of the European continent. (An early-warning system developed to disperse information after a nuclear attack.) During an interview with Jenni Murray broadcast on BBC Radio Four on August 8, she calls for the EU to follow the UK in adopting its system of CRB (Criminal Record Bureau) Checks: the intrusive 'police state' database which has incorrectly identified thousands of blameless Britons since its inception in 2002. She repeats these calls in an emotive article for the News Of The World on the second of September; just a week after Gerry's announcement (at the Edinburgh Television Festival, of all places) that they were winding down their high profile campaign.

Gerry then uses his Radio Four interview to reiterate the need to shut all European borders near to the scene of a suspected abduction, observing the short distance from the Algarve to Spain, and stating categorically that 'on the initial night... [Madeleine] was certainly moved.' With statements- or stunts- like these, and the coordinated precision with which so many celebrities, politicians and media personnel came out on their behalf, it is hardly surprising that to many people the McCanns have the appearance of people groomed to front an international 'awareness campaign' rather than parents frantically struggling to cope with sudden, unexpected loss. This political edge emerged very soon after the campaign got rolling. Shortly after their now infamous papal blessing (facilitated by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, a notorious protector of paedophile priests) the McCanns announced that they intended to widen its scope to incorporate 'all missing children everywhere.' But if the concept of a supra-governmental conspiracy seems implausible, and the McCanns are simply responding to unimaginable circumstances in the best way they know how, then- whatever the merits of their proposals- they remain absolutely the wrong people to be flagging the issues up.

The Mail on Sunday on the 27th of May quotes Gerry as saying: 'The way the scene was left means there was absolutely no doubt she had been abducted'. Prior to that, Jill Renwick had told The Mirror that 'Madeleine has obviously been taken. She couldn't have gone out on her own and the shutters were forced.' Yet, the management of the Mark Warner resort quickly denied any signs of forced entry; and recent reports from the British and Portuguese media seem to indicate that both the shutters and the window into Madeleine's bedroom were left open for ease of checking. And these were not the routine, every fifteen minute checks that the Tapas Nine, or the press, had us believe. The testimony of Diane Webster revealed that each couple were responsible for checking only their own children; and that this amounted to little more than standing outside the various apartments and listening for audible signs of disturbance. Much to the surprise of Silvia Batiste, the Warner Technical Services manager, the McCanns- and the rest of the group- refused a babysitter, or to use the free evening creche facility. (Only the Paynes, Fiona and David, kept a close ear on their children, using a baby listening monitoring device they had brought in with them from the UK.) Explaining these counter-intuitive decisions, Patricia McCann said: 'It was less than 40 yards away and they were all meticulous in checking them, it was just part of the routine.' (Both statements false.) 'They felt it was better than leaving them with a babysitter as you don't know who you are going to get with a stranger.'

As first reported on August 7, traces of blood were found at a low height on the wall (and, in some reports, the floor) of Kate and Gerry's bedroom. Degraded, and in minute quantity, samples were sent for analysis at Birmingham's Forensic Science Service (FSS) to be subject to a procedure known as 'Low copy number DNA profiling.' Whilst, in theory, a profile can be extracted from a single DNA cell, a figure of between 150 and 160 cells (approximately 1 DNA nanogram) is the practical minimum for optimum amplification. Low copy number profiles- a technique not presently available to Portuguese laboratories- use, typically, between five to twenty DNA cells; and- being less reliable as evidence- are used only when other investigative options have been exhausted. According to the FSS, such a procedure ordinarily takes 'a couple of weeks'; initial reports suggested the results could be back within six days. Four weeks on, and the Policia Judiciara (PJ) are still awaiting news: an impasse which some Portuguese journalists- and many within the conspiracy community- have taken as evidence of deliberate obstruction. A report in Correio da Manha, from August 24, reads:

'After all, the English have played tough, and a turnaround in the investigation could have devastating consequences even at government level. The prime minister, Gordon Brown, got directly involved in the case, not only expressing his solidarity with the McCann couple, but also through the direct involvement of people that are close to him, in aiding and supporting Maddie’s parents. On the other hand, British diplomacy itself opened the necessary channels for the McCanns to be received in several European countries and even by the Pope, in the Vatican.' The journalist goes on to ask whether the delay in announcing the results of the tests is Brown's attempt at damage limitation, intended to give the 'giant machine' of the British media ample time to prepare the population 'for the possibility that the crime is going to be "in house"'.

Or could the delay be an attempt to shield the McCanns, even as the noose appears to be tightening? As has already been observed, their campaigning behaviour has already marked them out as potential agents for the State. There are any number of reasons why an attention-diverting circus might be desirable to the hoodlums-in-government; particuarly an unpopular government in its dying days. Madeleine easily supplanted Blair's last (and most treacherous) EU summit as the story of the hour; as well as providing effective cover for the 33rd meeting of the G8 in June. Almost as soon as details of its discovery emerged, the British press was reporting that blood in the apartment could not have belonged to Madeleine; but was 'probably that of a man from the "northeast European subgroup"... who had injured himself whilst staying at the apartment after Madeleine disappeared.' (In spite of the fact that even the police claim not to know the results.) Adding to these suspicions are reports which that the blood samples are being compared against a genetic profile assembled from samples of Kate and Gerry's DNA, instead of a primary sample extracted from Madeleine herself. (Thus, even if the blood did belong to Madeleine, but the constructed profile was incorrect, the results would not show a match.) Lawyers for the PJ have even stated that the blood was that of a corpse, a detail which has gone entirely unreported in the British media.

There is also the fact of Gerry's membership of COMARE, the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment. COMARE describes itself as 'an independent expert advisory committee... offering independent advice to all Government Departments and Devolved Authorities... on the health effects of natural and man-made radiation.' COMARE's director happens to be a cardiologist based at the very hospital where Gerry and Kate first met, the Glasgow Western Infirmary. If COMARE's contacts incorporate individuals in the broader nuclear industry, these might include Andrew Brown: Head of Media for Europe's largest producer of nuclear electricity... and brother of Prime Minister Gordon. (The man whom apparatchik Clarence Mitchell claimed to be in regular telephone contact with Gerry McCann.)

Conspiracy sceptics will point to the testimonies of the McCann's travelling companions for confirmation of abduction. The most important of these were provided by Jane Tanner, the girlfriend of fellow medic Russell O'Brien, with whom the McCanns share some unlikely coincidences. According to the Portuguese newspaper SOL, the pair's eldest daughter was born 'at exactly the same time' as Madeleine, also by IVF. Tanner was thrust into the limelight after criticism of the Portuguese police provoked the authorities to release her statement given on the night of the disappearance, describing the man she saw walking away from the McCann's apartment carrying a child under a blanket. According to some reports, the decision followed a personal intervention by the Prime Minister: a piece of crowd-pleasing chicanery (or something more deliberate) which must have seemed, at the time, of little or no risk. Unfortunately for Brown, Tanner's story changed repeatedly; and the description- and accompanying photofit- of the alleged abductor proved someting of an embarrassment.

She originally claimed to have been the last to arrive for dinner at 9.30pm; and that it was on her way to the infamous Tapas bar that she saw a man (from behind) carrying what appeared to be a child. By the eighth of August, after leaked statements made their way into the Portuguese press, the timing of the sighting had changed to nearer 9.15pm. The location had also shifted- now she was en route to the McCann's apartment for another routine check on the children. According to the published timelines, based on statements leaked to the press, his was only ten minutes after Gerry McCann had previously left the restaurant to do the same thing; and was stil outside the apartment at the precise moment that Tanner claimed to have seen the abductor walking hurriedly in the opposite direction. Strangely, neither McCann- nor another witness, Jeremy Wilkins- saw anybody at all: neither the intruder nor Jane Tanner. A third version pushed the sighting forward to the moments after the check, as she walked back to the Tapas bar, trailing McCann by a matter of minutes. Unless Madeleine was snatched whilst Tanner was still inside, for her story to be corect the break-in must have occured within seconds of her leaving the apartment; with the abductor then overtaking her on the only road back to the bar and being spotted in the process. Her description of the man also underwent a dramatic evolution, to the extent that Tanner was able to give not only a detailed rundown of his clothes and appearance, but to confirm with total certainty that the child he was carrying was Madeleine. This, of course, is a world apart from the original statement, which produced a photofit sketch described by people who saw it as looking 'like an egg with hair.'

And then, just as the investigation was changing direction, up rears the Sunday Mirror with the 'concrete evidence' intended to prove the adbuction theory once and for all. The story was broken by Lori Campbell, the journalist who first reported Robert Murat to police. (He remains the only suspect in the case, despite rumours that his 'arguido' status is to set to be cleared at any time.) The article reiterated Kate McCann's certainty that Madeleine had been snatched: 'I knew straight away that a crime had been committed, we had no doubt about that.' The basis of her conviction, the paper revealed, lay in the unusual location of Madeleine's favourite stuffed toy, Cuddlecat, which had been placed out of a child's reach on top of a high shelf. According to the unnamed police source, Kate 'also noticed the window was wide open and the shutters jammed up. It was because of these things that she had no doubt Madeleine had been kidnapped and she ran out to scream for help.' As a result, she says, 'We were very conscious of not touching things'- a claim rather undermined by the twenty or so people who scoured the crime scene before alterting the police forty five minutes later. (Pamela Fenn, an elderly neighbour, claims she offered to call the police as soon as Madeleine was discovered missing- an offer Kate turned down.)

Indeed, one item which was very much touched was Cuddle Cat itself. Having been handled by the abductor, it should have been subject to the same procedures as the other forensic evidence: yet, according to the Daily Telegraph, 'police did not check and Mrs McCann has had the pink soft toy with her ever since. One specialist said scientists would have needed to examine it for at least several days. He said: "Now it's probably too late. It's an absolute glaring error."' Lori Campbell in the Sunday Mirror stated that it had been 'checked for prints and DNA then handed back to Kate when nothing was discovered.' But this is undermined by photographs which show Kate clutching the toy on the evening of May 4th: less than twenty four hours after the alleged abduction. (Bearing in mind that the blood-flecked floor tiles have been in the care of the FSS for over four weeks without result.) Its investigative value was reduced yet further when, shortly after the arrival of the British-trained sniffer dogs, Kate decided it was time to give him a wash, claiming 'it smelt of suntan lotion and I forgot what colour it was.'

And so the pas de deux continues, the McCanns playing the press with the deftness of a Diana; the Portuguese happy to bask in the sun, playing dumb, waiting... What started as an investigation into the abduction of a little girl has now morphed, irreversibly, into something else: a game of survival, in which the McCanns- halos in the crosshairs- have learned the jungle laws perfected by the best of their ilk. O J Simpson, Sion Jenkins, John Bennett and Patty Ramsey. They've even got that jail house religion routine going on. But if the case is remarkable for marking the moment when even the docile public awoke to conspiracy most foul- of a workaday, domestic form- it is more remarkable still for its subtle intimations of a far greater, occult conspiracy operating just beyond the limits of normal perception. And whilst the lies of Kate, Gerry and the Tapas Nine are now so egregious to mistake, the other communicates in a symbolic language almost impossible for hived minds to recognise; and thus continues, undisturbed.

http://ben-fairhall.blogspot.com/2007_0 ... chive.html