health care, socialism, world

Patients Dying From Thirst And Starvation In British Government Run Hospitals

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These are the sorts of stories proponents of government-run health care like to ignore. I guess they figure that the individuals who slip through the cracks (for lack of a more appropriate term) are just collateral damage in what they believe is a fight for the greater good.

In the British health care system, patients are literally being starved to death.

The death toll was disclosed by the Government amid mounting concern over the dignity of patients on NHS wards.

They will also fuel concerns about care homes, as it was disclosed that eight people starved to death and 21 people died of thirst while in care.

Last night there were warnings that they must prompt action by the NHS and care home regulators to prevent further deaths among patients.

The Office for National Statistics figures also showed that:

* as well as 43 people who starved to death, 287 people were recorded by doctors as being malnourished when they died in hospitals;

* there were 558 cases where doctors recorded that a patient had died in a state of severe dehydration in hospitals;

* 78 hospital and 39 care home patients were killed by bedsores, while a further 650 people who died had their presence noted on their death certificates;

* 21,696 were recorded as suffering from septicemia when they died, a condition which experts say is most often associated with infected wounds.

The records, from the Office for National Statistics, follow a series of scandals of care of the elderly, with doctors forced to prescribe patients with drinking water or put them on drips to make sure they do not become severely dehydrated.

But it looks like going to British hospitals isn’t just perilous for the elderly. Anybody can be a victim.

There were also thousands of deaths of patients and care home residents who were suffering from septicaemia, which experts say is most often caused by infected wounds.

In total, 21,696 hospital patients and 1,100 care home residents were suffering from the blood poisoning when they died.

In care homes, it was the direct cause of death in 101 cases, and in hospitals, it caused 1,997 deaths.

In July, an inquest heard that a young man who died of dehydration at a leading hospital rang 999 for police because he was so thirsty.

Officers arrived at Kane Gorny’s bedside, but were told by nurses that he was in a confused state and were sent away.

The footballer and runner, 22, died of dehydration a few hours later, an inquest heard in July.

Read the whole thing. This could be our future if Obamacare isn’t overturned. Of course, the British government says they will be doing more inspections, and spending more money to try to alleviate this deadly problem. But this sort of thing has been going on for years, and it doesn’t seem to be improving.

Update: Linked by Lady Liberty – thanks!

Update: Doug Ross linked – thanks!