Leslie's Compo
Actress Leslie Ash has been awarded five million pounds in compensation after suffering paralysis after contracting a form of the hospital superbug MRSA.
Yesterday it was reported it was £500,000 pounds but no, it's five million.
The case isn't straightforward. Well, I don't think so.
Firstly, she fell off her bed whilst having sex with her husband, Lee Chapman, and suffered a punctured lung and two broken ribs.
There was a history of what might best be described as rumours of domestic violence: though Leslie Ash has always defended her husband against any such accusations, it must be said. Though, of course, I know dozens of people who have suffered similar injuries whilst having sex, and I expect you do too.
Whilst being treated for the punctured lung and two broken ribs ("the kind of sex-related injury that we see every day" as nobody was heard to remark) she contracted a bug similar to MRSA.
Okay, the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital have agreed the five million pounds for the "shortcomings in her care".
But it won't serve as a test case for the value of the compensation, oh no. If your beloved relative has caught a hospital bug, and you're seeing the cheque in your mind now, forget it.
The payout was only so large because Leslie Ash - most famous for Men Behaving Badly, and also known for Where the Heart Is and Merseybeat - was a very high earner. So they've paid her to compensate for loss of both past and future earnings.
But two things strike me.
Firstly, an article I read in the Daily Mail (yes, I know, I'm sorry - I was at the osteopath with Emily and it was in the waiting room) said that, because she now walks with a stick, she can no longer play the "attractive young blonde" roles which made her famous.
Now listen. There's a reason she can't play those roles any more, and it's because she's forty-seven. And although she might be a youthful, well-preserved forty-seven, there are plenty of pretty, talented and much younger actresses for casting directors to choose from.
I work with actors and I know. Women's casting, in chronological order, goes like this:
Pretty Young Things
Young Mother
Mother of Teenagers (and, by the way, these are generally cast from thirty-something women)
Career Women (again, usually thirty-somethings)
BIG GAP
then
Little Old Lady (Curly white hair like a sheep. Under five feet two. Taller ones can forget it).
And there's another relevant point I'd like to make, too. In an attempt to keep her youthful looks, she had collagen implants in her lips a few years ago. As you'll probably remember, it all went horribly wrong and her new, strange-looking "trout pout" ended up plastered all over the newspapers.
So, as a matter of fact, she's been awarded five million pounds compensation at a time when I suspect she would no longer be offered many leading roles. Or, perhaps, any roles in television at all. If you look at many drama series you will find well-known older actresses in tiny roles.
So, yes, Leslie Ash has been through a hard time and I feel sorry for her, to a certain extent. And certainly I think it's time that hospitals started taking cleanliness and superbugs very seriously indeed.
But FIVE MILLION POUNDS? Her glamorous-actress life may be behind her, but, d'you know, I think it might well have been anyway. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I'd give her the half-million that it was rumoured to be - and I still think that's quite a lot.
The other four and a half million could buy a lot of hospital equipment.
Yesterday it was reported it was £500,000 pounds but no, it's five million.
The case isn't straightforward. Well, I don't think so.
Firstly, she fell off her bed whilst having sex with her husband, Lee Chapman, and suffered a punctured lung and two broken ribs.
There was a history of what might best be described as rumours of domestic violence: though Leslie Ash has always defended her husband against any such accusations, it must be said. Though, of course, I know dozens of people who have suffered similar injuries whilst having sex, and I expect you do too.
Whilst being treated for the punctured lung and two broken ribs ("the kind of sex-related injury that we see every day" as nobody was heard to remark) she contracted a bug similar to MRSA.
Okay, the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital have agreed the five million pounds for the "shortcomings in her care".
But it won't serve as a test case for the value of the compensation, oh no. If your beloved relative has caught a hospital bug, and you're seeing the cheque in your mind now, forget it.
The payout was only so large because Leslie Ash - most famous for Men Behaving Badly, and also known for Where the Heart Is and Merseybeat - was a very high earner. So they've paid her to compensate for loss of both past and future earnings.
But two things strike me.
Firstly, an article I read in the Daily Mail (yes, I know, I'm sorry - I was at the osteopath with Emily and it was in the waiting room) said that, because she now walks with a stick, she can no longer play the "attractive young blonde" roles which made her famous.
Now listen. There's a reason she can't play those roles any more, and it's because she's forty-seven. And although she might be a youthful, well-preserved forty-seven, there are plenty of pretty, talented and much younger actresses for casting directors to choose from.
I work with actors and I know. Women's casting, in chronological order, goes like this:
Pretty Young Things
Young Mother
Mother of Teenagers (and, by the way, these are generally cast from thirty-something women)
Career Women (again, usually thirty-somethings)
BIG GAP
then
Little Old Lady (Curly white hair like a sheep. Under five feet two. Taller ones can forget it).
And there's another relevant point I'd like to make, too. In an attempt to keep her youthful looks, she had collagen implants in her lips a few years ago. As you'll probably remember, it all went horribly wrong and her new, strange-looking "trout pout" ended up plastered all over the newspapers.
So, as a matter of fact, she's been awarded five million pounds compensation at a time when I suspect she would no longer be offered many leading roles. Or, perhaps, any roles in television at all. If you look at many drama series you will find well-known older actresses in tiny roles.
So, yes, Leslie Ash has been through a hard time and I feel sorry for her, to a certain extent. And certainly I think it's time that hospitals started taking cleanliness and superbugs very seriously indeed.
But FIVE MILLION POUNDS? Her glamorous-actress life may be behind her, but, d'you know, I think it might well have been anyway. Giving her the benefit of the doubt, I'd give her the half-million that it was rumoured to be - and I still think that's quite a lot.
The other four and a half million could buy a lot of hospital equipment.
posted by Daphne at 5:29 pm
3 Comments:
Damn, yes! I'm always puncturing my lung while shagging. Ha! - and I thought it was just me.
Hehehe, I laughed as a I read this. A story well told! And agreed, £5m is excessive.
You make some excellent points (as usual) young Daffers.
£4.5 squillion quid could buy a lot of mops and disinfectant to try and clean up those hospital wards etc but of course we know it would most likely go towards fat salaries and bonus payments to the faceless admin and management piranhas who bleed the NHS dry.
Lee Chapman was an excellent forward for Leeds United for 4 years, one of the fifteen clubs he played for in his 18 year professional career. I'm sure he made a bob or two. He and Ash own several restaurants and bars.
I seem to remember he was adept at smacking other players when he'd jump for the ball - so maybe he and the missus were having a nice game of bedroom footy at the time !
Ian
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