Doctors gang up on knife crime

By Jim Reed
Newsbeat reporter

Knife crime victim relives attack

Doctors in Glasgow have told Newsbeat they are seeing more random victims of knife crime in the city.

"There does seem to be an increase in the number of innocent victims as opposed to gang related violence," said A&E consultant Dr Jonny Gordon.

Figures show someone living in Scotland is twice as likely to be a victim of murder or manslaughter each year as in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Levels of knife crime are thought to be around three times higher.

Dr Gordon added: "In Glasgow the incidence of knife-related crime is much higher than in the rest of the UK.

"We are spending too much time patching people up and taking away services which could be delivered to other people."

Knife 'myths'

Dr Gordon is one of 70 people who have signed up to a new scheme to warn teenagers about the dangers of knives.

Medics Against Violence tours schools and colleges to try to correct some urban myths about stabbings.

"A classic one is that you can be stabbed in the buttocks and get away with it," said Dr Gordon.

"That is completely and utterly not true. It's an absolute lottery.

"There is no safe wound and there is no safe place to stab somebody. You can die without any sign of external blood loss at all."

Surgeons in Glasgow deal with a facial injury every six hours. Many are caused by a knife or another sharp object.

People are going out to have fights not with their fists but with weapons. Christine Goodall, Medics Against Violence

"Around 75% of the people we see have been involved in violence in one form or another," says Christine Goodall, an oral surgeon at the city's dental school and one of the founders of Medics Against Violence.

"You need a lot of nerves to make all those facial muscles work. So any injury will mean you look completely different.

"Often you won't be able to smile properly and any damage to the eyelids or eyebrows can make you look very strange if it doesn't heal up.

"I would say the severity of the injuries is increasing as well. People are going out to have fights not with their fists but with weapons.

"Hitting someone with a machete is not the same as punching them in the face."