July 31st also marks the birthday of the late Richard Griffiths, who starred as Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films. He gave an excellent performance throughout the series, bringing to life the iconic line:
He also gave fantastic performances in Hugo, Pirates of the caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Bleak House, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and The Vicar of Dibley along with many other titles, and a Tony Award-winning performance in The History Boys.
Daniel Radcliffe gave a moving tribute to Griffiths upon hearing of his death in 2013:
“Richard was by my side during two of the most important moments of my career. In August 2000, before official production had even begun on Potter, we filmed a shot outside the Dursleys’, which was my first ever shot as Harry. I was nervous and he made me feel at ease.
Seven years later, we embarked on Equus together. It was my first time doing a play but, terrified as I was, his encouragement, tutelage and humour made it a joy. In fact, any room he walked into was made twice as funny and twice as clever just by his presence. I am proud to say I knew him.”
Amidst the excitement of the Cursed Child release and J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter’s birthdays, it’s important to spend a moment remembering those we have lost.
Please join The Leaky Cauldron in wishing him happy birthday, and keep him in your thoughts when you’re celebrating this special day!
By Richard D. Griffiths
Over the last half century, critical care has made great advances towards preventing the premature deaths of many severely ill patients. The urgency, immediacy, and involved intimacy of the critical care team striving to correct acutely disturbed organ dysfunction meant that, for many years, physiological correction and ultimate patient survival alone was considered the unique measure of success. However, over the last quarter century, our survivor patients and their relatives have told us much more about what it means to have a critical illness. We work in an area of medicine where survival is a battle determined by tissue resilience, frailty, and the ability to recover, but this comes at a price. As our focus has moved beyond the immediate, we have learned about the ‘legacy of critical care’ and how having a critical illness impacts life after ICU through its consequential effects on physical and psychological function and the social landscape.
This fundamental cultural change in how we perceive critical care as a specialty and where our measure of a successful outcome includes the quality of life restored has come about through the sound medical approach of listening to our patients and families, defining the problems, and carefully testing through research hypotheses as to causation and possible therapeutic benefit. It not only has changed how patients are considered and cared for after intensive care, but, through the detailed knowledge of how patients are affected by the consequences of the critical illness, it has fostered fundamental research to improve the care and therapies we use during their stay. As with all sound clinical advances, it has helped shed light and ill-informed dogma and helped re-focus the research agenda to ensure that the long-term legacies of a critical illness are equally considered. Immobility, oft considered of little consequence, is now recognized to be a significant pathological participant and contributor to disability. Amnesia, in short-term anaesthesia considered a benefit, now has defined pathological significance, along with previously poorly recognized cognitive deficits and delusional experiences, all consequences of acute brain dysfunction. The family, often in the past merely a repository of information, is now recognized to play a much greater role in how patients recover and are themselves traumatized by the experience, so meriting help and support if they are to assist in rehabilitation.
Perhaps the purest achievement has been the bringing together of contributions not just from patients and their families, but form the wide breadth of professionals deeply involved in the care of the critically ill from across many continents. Not only have the doors of the intensive care unit been thrown open, but so too have the minds of those working for the best care of our patients. The reward of a visit some months later of a patient brought back from the brink of death is cherished by a critical care team. Added to this, the knowledge that our patients are now understanding what happened to them and they and their families are being given the help to recover their lives following the legacy of critical care is something of which our specialty should be justly proud. We cannot ignore the lessons we have learned.
Richard D. Griffiths is Emeritus Professor of Medicine (Intensive Care) and Honorary Consultant at the Institute of Aging and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool. He is a contributor to Textbook of Post-ICU Medicine: The Legacy of Critical Care.
Subscribe to the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Subscribe to only health and medicine articles on the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Image: Doctor consults with patient by National Cancer Institute. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The post The legacy of critical care appeared first on OUPblog.
As announced earlier, WB will be releasing Harry Potter: Wizarding World DVD game on December 1st, just a few days before the release of Half-Blood Prince and the special Ultimate Collector's editions DVDs. As such Amazon.com has a brand new trailer for the DVD game which you can see right here in our Video galleries. Last month we told of the details for the game which covers elements from Har...
Read the rest of this post
UPDATE: TLC has spoken directly to reps for Michael Gambon, who have reassured us that the beloved actor is on the road to recovery from this minor illness, and will be back to work, up and jumping again in a few weeks time. Of special interest to Harry Potter fans is word that yes indeed, Michael Gambon will be able to film his role as the beloved Albus Dumbledore for Harry Potter and the Deat...
Read the rest of this post
As TLC reported late last week, actor Dan Radcliffe (Harry Potter) was among the many Broadway actors to take part in the 20th Annual Gypsy of the Year Event, benefiting the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Charity. Video of from the event is now online and features the young actor answering a few questions about his first performance in the annual event. In this short clip, Mr. Radcliffe di...
Read the rest of this post
Richard Griffiths (Uncle Vernon) will be appearing at the famous Macy's Herald Square Christmas tree lighting event in New York City this weekend. The acclaimed actor, who is currently appearing on Broadway with fellow Potter actor Dan Radcliffe (Harry Potter) in the production of Equus, will be giving a reading of the classic poem "The Night Before Christmas." (A Visit From Saint Nicholas by C...
Read the rest of this post
Last night actors Dan Radcliffe (Harry Potter) and Richard Griffiths (Uncle Vernon) were guests on the acclaimed Charlie Rose show which is broadcast on PBS. Video of this fascinating interview where they discuss their play Equus and more is now online here. Enjoy!
Please note: The bulk of this interview focuses in depth on Equus, with some lovely, reflective, and thought-provoking conversation,...
Read the rest of this post
