Stop doctoring the Plastic Brit debate

EACH week, writers at The Guardian must clasp their hands in thanks for the Plastic Brit debate. What else would they have to put in Yamile Aldama’s column otherwise? Five weeks of shoulder injury updates? That wouldn’t sell many papers (not that much of what appears in its pages does, mind you). Anyway, last week Aldama — who has competed for Cuba, via Sudan, and now Great Britain handily in time for a home Olympics — devoted an entire piece to the issue of nationality. And this is how she challenged her critics. ‘Imagine if I was one of the top 10 heart surgeons in the world — better than anyone in Britain — would these same people be happy for me to operate on their children? Or would they insist on a British surgeon who is not as good?’ Well, I can certainly answer that one. The doctor that identified the heart defect in my son Robert was, I believe, British-asian. We didn’t discuss his specific ancestry because when they think a three-day-old boy has been born with his four chambers reversed, where we all come from is less important than where this baby may be going. The paediatric specialist who then identified the condition correctly as acute pulmonary stenosis — the pulmonary valve that transfers blood to the lungs was more than 90 per cent closed — was Dr Hla. Top man Dr Hla. I think he is from the Far East, but again we have never pinpointed locations as it doesn’t seem vital. As for the surgeon who performed a balloon dilation on Robert’s valve at five days old — and then again after three months allowing him to live a healthy, happy and sporty life — that was Professor Andrew Redington. He is British but works in Toronto now. I doubt if they call him a Plastic Canadian, though: because heart surgery is not a competitive international sport. Once Professor Redington had finished operating on Robert, he did not wrap himself in a Union Flag and do a lap of the theatre for patriotic onlookers. He probably doesn’t do that with the Maple Leaf at the Hospital for Sick Kids in Toronto, either. He did not get a newspaper column on the back of competing for Britain and his public profile has never been defined by representing his country at surgery. One might say his nationality, like that of Dr Hla, is entirely irrelevant to his job. This makes him different to international athletes and to even draw the comparison is, frankly, ludicrous. The Plastic Brit debate is sport specific. Aldama needs to get that shoulder fixed before glibly appropriating the complex world of paediatric cardiology.