Deep vein thrombosis (DVT)

As most of my friends know a very good friend of mine, Katie McPherson died 4 years ago of DVT. I would like to share a letter I received from her brother, another very good friend of mine, and I would ask you to sign the petition.

“As you will be aware in the light of my sisters death some four years ago from a DVT, my family and I have been battling for changes to be made regarding the awareness and treatment of DVT throughout Scotland.

Over the past years we have found there is a gene which has been shown to increase susceptibility to DVT. This is called “Factor V Liden”. I am one of the lucky people carrying this gene:-).

We as a family are pushing for this test to be given to all new born babies as well as young women prior to them being given either the contraceptive pill or HRT. The said medication combined with the Factor V gene unfortunately increases the likelihood of developing a DVT.

If an individual is aware of this increased susceptibility they should also be made aware of the symptoms of a DVT and how to combat them.

DVT is not uncommon (“more people die from a dvt every year than that of breast cancer, road accidents and MRSA combined”) but it can be treatable if caught early enough.

As part of our ongoing ‘battle’ we have raised an epetition for this matter to be raised as a discussion at the Scottish Parliament.

I would ask for your support in this matter by following the link below and signing the online petition.

http://epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk/view_petition.asp?PetitionID=155 ”

Stephen McPherson

I hope that many of you will sign this petition…

If you are not familiar with this story you can read more at:

Could 30,000 deaths a year be prevented?
Tragedy of Katie McPherson
The student who predicted she would die
[Family blame medics’ error for DVT death
‘Don’t let mistakes kill another patient’
Investagation into DVT death reveals case of ‘bad luck’

]( http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=633&id=1180472004)Technorati tags: DVT , Katie%20McPherson , Deep vein thrombosis

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