Sure to Be Omitted from Our Media: U.K. Hospital Horror Story of Dragging a Dead Guy Like an Animal
The next time someone in the media wants to blame budget cutters for premature deaths, remember James Taranto at The Wall Street Journal, who unveiled another story filed under “Great Moments in Socialized Medicine,” once again from jolly old England and the London Daily Mail:
Peter Thompson, 41, was left in a corridor for ten hours before someone noticed he had passed away. In a final act of indignity, hospital auxiliaries pulled his lifeless body across the floor in a manner his family described as like "dragging a dead animal."
The scenes which shame the NHS [National Health Service] were all captured on CCTV. Staff thought Mr. Thompson was merely drunk and left him to "sleep it off."
Yesterday a coroner condemned the death as "wholly preventable."
An inquest heard that the father-of-one, who had consumed a cocktail of drink and drugs, could have been saved had he received emergency treatment.
The hospital’s accident and emergency department was just 200 yards away.
Taranto couldn’t help himself:
Would someone please ask former Enron adviser Paul Krugman to call the Thompson family and relieve their suffering by letting them know "these stories are false"?
- Tim Graham's blog
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Comments
Another piece of evidence
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 8:20am.
Another piece of evidence that socialism devalues human life.
Obamacare would have prevented that
Submitted by c5then on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 8:24am.
Not the death, it would have prevented the story of it getting out because discussing a patient's treatment (or lack there of) is a crime and they would have censored the whole thing.
But don't worry because the "Patient Treatment and Payment Committee" would have met first and decided that he was too old to receive emergency treatment but that comfort care (a blanket and a pillow) were the "appropriate level of attention".
Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!
You Don't Have to be Too Old
Submitted by Comrade Jim on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 9:06am.
To be sent to the grave. One assessment used by the British System NICE is "Social Usefulness." The "Patient Treatment and Payment Committee" decides who is socially useful at any age.
The British sure have a fancy
Submitted by Free Stinker on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 9:36am.
The British sure have a fancy name for their Death Panel.
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
Are We Surprised?
Submitted by Prowler-Getz on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 8:45am.
Benny Hill was slamming the NHS back in the 70's. I vividly remember the skit where the person that pays for his care is treated as royalty and the NHS service was Dickesnsian. Then it was satire, now its standard operating procedure.
Another Shovel Ready Job
Submitted by Comrade Jim on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 8:55am.
Created by Socialized Medicine.
When ObamaCare is up and running, IPAB will be saving and creating even more shovel ready Jobs, surpassing Britain.
Bring out your dead!!
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 9:27am.
I swear, Monty Python & Holy Grail wasn't comedy, it was prophecy.
CALLING THE LIBTURD
Submitted by Scuba Dude on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 9:45am.
CALLING THE LIBTURD GIYBAG!!!!
Hey, was this one of the hospitals you said you worked in?
Yeah, I can see how they are able to devote so much time to their patients.
I bet he doesn't show up,
Submitted by Free Stinker on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 9:51am.
I bet he doesn't show up, especially after the thrashing he got last night.
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
He's probably on the morning bedpan circuit now.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:02am.
.
I have an idea
Submitted by Hoosier Conservative on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:02am.
Put something in the headline saying Sarah Palin was his nurse.... you'll have 5 liberals on this thread post haste.
This is a glimpse into our coming "health care" system
Submitted by Dave. on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 9:51am.
...if the repubs don't get off their behinds and gut ObamaCare immediately and completely.
I guess they are going to screw around until this hideous law is so entrenched we'll never be able to get rid of it.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Rx: water
Submitted by mom_rox on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:33am.
Add this to the story of British doctors having to prescribe drinking water for the patients because the nurses are not providing the water on their own. From the article:
"The snapshot study, triggered by a Mail campaign, found staff routinely ignored patients’ calls for help and forgot to check that they had had enough to eat and drink."
wow
Submitted by Hoosier Conservative on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:02am.
Look at all the regular NB liberals who showed up... oh nevermind.
Why bother
Submitted by mandrake on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:15am.
Look, I could list several counter examples from my experience here in Canukistan..but why bother. Who needs to get insulted by The Vet, Unsane or Blonde yet again..been there done that..take a pass.
ah
Submitted by Hoosier Conservative on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:24am.
So you have no sympathy for this guy's family, no concern about the financial situation in England, nothing to say about this story that doesn't involve defending public healthcare in Canada?
Actually I do.
Submitted by mandrake on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:57am.
I do have a lot concern..my coment had more to do with the general climate around here..I really need to question why I bother reading this stuff?
while you are at it
Submitted by Hoosier Conservative on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 11:03am.
One more question -
You get annoyed by what you see as tedious and predictable responses from conservatives about the level of healthcare in Canada.
Can you not reflect on how most liberals do the same, how they never want to give an inch on England's looming bankruptcy, or Medicaid's pathetic payment to hospitals? If liberals decide to stonewall and say there's never anything wrong with government healthcare, what are conservatives supposed to do?
Ok, one more time
Submitted by mandrake on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 11:35am.
This thread started out as an example of how horrible 'socialized' health care' can be. I have personally witnessed how it has helped me and others several times. So what is your alternative to those who cannot afford private heath insurance?
You sound confused. What is
Submitted by Scuba Dude on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 12:02pm.
You sound confused. What is it you cannot afford? Health Insurance or paying for medical services?
If the socialized health care in Canada or the UK is so great why are so many folks coming here to be treated?
Edit: You want answers? Check out this Forum Topic that Blonde created.
Frosty: The alternative? Be a charity case.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 12:13pm.
We've got millions of them, and have had for generations.
Nobody is dying in the streets here (yet) unless they want to.
No insurance? AstraZeneca medicines provided at no cost.
I knew this was a mistake.
Submitted by mandrake on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 12:17pm.
There are some days when I just shoudh't logon.. But since i'm here. Could a 'charity case' get a triple bypass like my father did? And this was on Christmas eve!
Why of course they could, Frosty.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 12:28pm.
It's a well known fact that hospitals always discharge as many patients as possible around major holidays, especially Christmas.
So statistically speaking, Christmas Eve is actually THE perfect time to show up for an unscheduled free triple bypass, even in the US.
It's not our fault your
Submitted by Scuba Dude on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 1:00pm.
It's not our fault your arguments fall flat on their face right out of the starting gate. Accept the responsibility for once. Stop blaming others for your shortcomings.
Ok
Submitted by mandrake on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 1:20pm.
I accept responsibilty for what I have witnessed..now you can an accept responsibilty for for the idiot you have elected.
I can proudly say I voted for
Submitted by Scuba Dude on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 1:25pm.
I can proudly say I voted for Palin. :-)
And thank you for calling Odumbo what he really is.
Scoobs
Submitted by MrShy on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 1:43pm.
I come here, and you guys, and I and me and me me me. Not the issues, not the topic, not the facts and sources and links but me, just me, and you guys and how you treat me.
I knew I shouldn't have logged on. I knew me me, you guys, it's always the same, and I me mine... I I I and me me me. You and me and how it's personal. Forget the issue and my flailing and losing the debate. I knew it was going to be like this and you would be this way with me me me I I I and one more I and one last me, and you.
- mandrake, another failure and loser in the arena of debating
= = =
- Shy Vinyl
Join Mr. Shy and The 1* Percent
Shy, when do you think we
Submitted by Scuba Dude on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 1:59pm.
Shy, when do you think we should break out the violin for him?
"I knew this was a mistake."
Submitted by Rukus on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 1:51pm.
"There are some days when I just shoudh't logon.."
Well... maybe you shouldn't have chewed through the restraints. That woulda been a start...
Ya but
Submitted by mandrake on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 2:01pm.
It has been a lot more fun than the 2 hours I spent yesterday waiting to get an emissions test. Time well spent ;-)
And there you have it, mandrake---
Submitted by matthewdean on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:04pm.
another knock on socialized medicine by way of your own post.
Waiting two whole hours just for the opportunity to whiz in a specimen cup.
Sad, indeed.
MD
Lay off the baked beans, Frosty.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 11:18pm.
You'll ace it next year, I guarantee.
This is our health care system
Submitted by Hunter S. on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:00am.
This has been happening in US hospitals for years.
And a new Troll appears to
Submitted by Free Stinker on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:03am.
And a new Troll appears to pick up the slack for the others . . .
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
Please link a reference
Submitted by NL207 on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:10am.
demonstrating your point.
If such a thing ever happened here and the press got wind of it there'd be a hue and outcry that would last a week. I think you are a misinformed ignoramus.
Link or slink.
Google can be your friend
Submitted by Hunter S. on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:20am.
Philly
Portland
San Antonio
Los Angeles
Satisfied?
Apparently Google is not YOUR friend, Mr. Thompson.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:31am.
The main gist of this post was a dead patient being disrespectfully dragged out like an animal carcass by a hospital employee, was it not?
Not one of the links you provided presents any evidence of a similar thing in the US. Not even close.
Fail.
Nice try
Submitted by Hunter S. on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 12:09pm.
Let's ask Tim Graham about the MAIN gist of his article.
A) The socialization of medicine is detrimental to American society because people are dying unnecessarily in hospital waiting rooms OR
B) The socialization of medicine is detrimental to American society because in England, a person who died in a hospital waiting room was mistakenly dragged away as a drunk.
I know where I'm putting my money.
No. Lets talk about
Submitted by NL207 on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 1:05pm.
your pointless links. I asked you to reference an incident here in the US similar to the one reported above in the UK. You failed to do that. Not one of your references contained the egregious behaviors reported in the UK. You lose that argument. The crappy care reported in the UK does not in fact occur in the US.
You aren't putting your money anywhere. You are demanding the taxpayers, under threats of government coercion, put their money into programs you believe are justified.
The reason you are all in a huff about this thread is that it challenges your absurd notions that socialized medicine will abolish what you claim are abuses of the US medical system. Instead, we see that socialized medicine magnifies and institutionalizes the very complaints you have with our medical system. Socialized Medicine fulfills Quinn's Law : Liberalism always produces the opposite of its stated intentions.
LOL. All four of your links were irrelevant.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 1:01pm.
Now while I understand that in the libtroll community, this type of thing is considered to be a great victory, but I do not share your fantasy.
The overwhelming majority of US citizens* do NOT wanted socialized medicine. Deal with it.
• Meaning not illegal aliens.
Calling my links irrelevant
Submitted by Hunter S. on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 1:15pm.
Doesn't make them irrelevant.
But now that you've switched over to Foxpublican talking points I'll leave you with this:
Socialized medicine and Single Payer Option = 2 completely different philosophies.
Where in his post did he
Submitted by Scuba Dude on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 1:23pm.
Where in his post did he mention Single Payer Option?
He did not, he said Socialized medicine and socialized medicine will be the death of the great health care system this country has. A system that members of socialized systems in Canada and Great Britain flock to in order to get treatment they would either not receive or would have to wait an extraordinary amount of time to receive.
You have a serious problem with reading comprehension.
You links are irrelevant
Submitted by NL207 on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 1:24pm.
because they fail to demonstrate the poor medical care reported in the UK article.
You obviously failed mathematics, especially the part about sets and subsets. Socialized Medicine includes all examples of government controlled, paid and administered healthcare. Any single payer option healthcare system imposed by the government is an instance of socialized medicine. These are not different philosophies but in fact one and the same.
Sorry, but they are in fact irrelevant.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 1:28pm.
See Hoosier's excellent clinical dissection directly below.
And WTH does single-payer have to do with this? Nothing.
one by one
Submitted by Hoosier Conservative on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:42am.
Philly - a patient was so close to death by the time he got to the ER that he died during the wait. He wasn't blatantly ignored and died in less than two hours.
Portland - a man on the edge of death crashed his car in the ER parking lot, the hospital scrambled to find someone to bring him in, they reacted in 10 minutes but he was already gone.
San Antonio - a guy with no known family members is sitting in the lobby, and tells a stranger he'd been there for 16 hours. Admittedly the stranger seems to have watched him for about an hour before he died. The hospital says they're having to track down anyone who is related to him.
Los Angeles - wait, what is that which appears in the lede? It's an inner-city hospital, which in the medical world is code for Medicaid patients.
Now let us go over the England story again - a man shows up with his family, they're right there telling the nurse what's wrong with him, the nurse takes him out of the lobby to treat him, puts him in a hallway, and then ignores him for 10 hours until he dies.
I too have exposure to the healthcare industry. Any patient who comes attached to government funding, be it Medicare or Medicaid, will cost more to treat than what the provider gets back. Any hospital, assisted living home, or pharmacy that gets most of its business from the government will inevitably start hitting financial ruin.
Well said, Hoosier. I was
Submitted by NC Cop on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:45am.
Well said, Hoosier. I was compiling a similar list for Hunter. You beat me to it.
Google is Hunter's friend
Submitted by Hoosier Conservative on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 11:29am.
Walgreens refuses to take new Medicaid patients because they lose money on every scrip.
Doctors turn away cancer patients on Medicaid because they don't even get paid enough to keep the lights on.
95% of Medicaid recipients go to emergency rooms for treatment, often to get medicine they could have easily gotten from a family doctor. Since ER's (like everyone else) take a loss on Medicaid patients, they are forced to jack up the price to everyone else.
At the Boston Medical Center, doctors are literally prescribing scrips for food from a pantry provided by the hospital. Right now that hospital is in debt to the tune of 175 million. Because Medicaid thinks free healthcare should be free.
Dentists reject Medicaid patients because payment is too low, paperwork is too hard, and patients don't comply with treatment.
I don't expect Hunter to reply to this. I'm gone for now, my free time is over.
I see you also have a reading conmprehension problem.
Submitted by NL207 on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 12:25pm.
Try reading the UK article.
Philly -- "sat untreated in the waiting room for 80 minutes, where he died and three homeless drug addicts robbed him of his wristwatch. ... Joaquin Rivera, 63, of Frankford" Somewhat short of 10 hours don't you think? The robbers were not hospital employees.
Portland -- "Marin-Fuentes crashed his car into a light pole in the hospital's parking lot under a sign that said "Emergency Vehicles Only." He was 125 feet from the entrance to the emergency room." The patient never actually reached the hospital. He died while driving his car to the hospital.
San Antonio -- "Alfred Garza, who said he spoke to the man while also awaiting treatment, said the man was in obvious pain and told him he had been waiting in the ER since 8:00 a.m. Monday. ... Leni Kirkman, a spokeswoman for University Hospital, said the patient died at 9:00 a.m. in the Intensive Care Unit" Contrary to the misleading headline on the story, the body of the story says this man died after 1 hour of waiting.
Los Angeles -- "Relatives said Rodriguez was bleeding from the mouth and writhing in pain for 45 minutes while she was at a hospital waiting area. Experts have said she could have survived had she been treated early enough"
While every one of these deaths is a tragedy for the families, in not one case did the the hospital staff mistreat the decedent's corpse as was alleged in the UK case. Nor was anyone kept waiting 10 hours or anything close to it.
According to your criteria, anyone who dies on the way to the hospital was 'abused' by the medical system.
Full disclosure---
Submitted by matthewdean on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:14pm.
Hunter S. = Hunter S.eeking someone to slap his ass silly.
Hunter S.uccessful.
On S.everal accounts.
S.hazzam!!
MD
Thanks for taking time out of creating death panels Ms. Sebelius
Submitted by Dave. on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 12:14pm.
...to pay us a visit here at NB.
I mean, totally wrecking what was once the best health care system in the world must be a really tough and time-consuming job.
I have noticed your work is beginning to bear fruit, though, as drug shortages are already popping up, and health care insurance rates, along with doctor's fees, are skyrocketing.
Maybe if you can manage to destroy our health care system before the repubs can bring themselves to gut CommieCare, or the SCOTUS declares it unconstitutional, the Comrade Chairman might give you a little bonus out of that trillion dollar slush fund he stole from us taxpayers - if he doesn't give the rest of it to Greece first.
Perhaps you can use the money buy some shotguns for your agency to help deal with the unruly mobs that will no doubt be rioting after a 14 hour stint in the waiting rooms of America.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Hey, hey, hey! Read'em and
Submitted by jdhawk on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 10:16am.
Hey, hey, hey! Read'em and weep! The future of America's healthcare.
Meanwhile, here is a timely article on British healthcare: Health Secretary Andrew Lansley: funding crisis threatens the NHS (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8551392/Health-Secretary-An...). In it, they propose a possible solution, "The British Medical Association says plans to hand bonuses to high-performing GP groups risk “undermining patients’ trust."
Note, that the British Medical Association is the equivalent of our AMA. Here, we find the physician's governing body is against market reforms. They would rather see the present socialist single-payer system continue as is. Unbelievable.
In the article there is talk of supposedly the equivalent of the Republican party, the Tories. Don't be fooled. The only difference between the British Labor party and the Tories is that the Tories get in power once in a while by convincing the electorate that they can do socialism more "efficiently."
In other news, the British decomissioned their only remaining aircraft carrier. They are no longer a blue water Navy. We are it. And our federal budget is twice the size that we can afford. How much longer can we afford to spend on our own defense at the level that we do?
Good article, jdhawk.
Submitted by stratman on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 11:57am.
Good article, jdhawk. Thanks.
The BMA has ~ 141,000 physician members of a total 240,000 registered physicians in Britain. One reason for the majority numbers is due to the negotiating rights of the BMA for its members. The majority of physicians in America are not members of the AMA. The number of members is not widely publicized, but the AMA may have up to 215,000 members or well below that number depending on who or what you are looking at. Of significance, the number of dues paying members has been decreasing as the AMA alienates physicians with its focus on issues not aligned with most physician's interests. The total number of physicians in the US was approximately 954,000 in 2010 according to The WSJ.
Your linked article points out the current folly of the NHS and the foolishness of the general practitioners there. The NHS wants to shove the costs and blame of those costs onto general practitioners. The GP's, in their hubris, believe they can manage the economics better but will find themselves in a sh*tstorm from multiple directions. First, there is the conflict of interest. Second, the savings, as well as profits, will be phantom for most. They are already trying to conserve as much as possible. Third, the government will have its scapegoat for the angry public over real and perceived rationing, both increased and unchanged in amount of rationing, which will fall squarely on the shoulders of the physicians. Fourth, potential financial losses may affect the physicians in unintended ways. There are probably more possibilities for calamity, but you get the gist that the NHS is using the GP's and the GP's are gladly going to dine on a crap sandwich of their own devise. In the end, it's just one Leftist screwing over another Leftist in the time honored tradition of Leftists.
In the end, this will fail as have all the other Leftist policies, because when people play with other people's money there is little incentive to spend it wisely as you would with your own. It's other people's money and we can get more when we want.