Thursday - November 22, 2012

sorry, english not spoken here

Some days ago and not for the first time, I mentioned foreign doctors and language problems and the havoc some had caused.
They were working for the NHS and I wondered if were just the nature of a national service that would do that. Can’t recall what else I may have said.
Well, this came up today and it is a hum dinger. This goes way beyond insanity because if the fellow in this story had that much of a problem, then how in the world did they allow it to go on for years?

Take a look at this one. It could make a pretty good sit com. You know, guy working in hosp. setting and confusion over language etc. Might be funny. Except in real life, no so funny.

And speaking of not so funny.  We’ve been getting gale force winds almost all day and now into the night.  Brrrr. Have some very, very large trees close by.

Indian radiographer who could not speak English worked at cancer hospital for SIX YEARS before being sacked after string of complaints

· Ramani Ramaswany was dismissed from The Christie cancer hospital in Manchester
· He has also been suspended from the national radiography register for a year
· The Health and Care Professions Council heard that he showed ‘a lack of competency’ in a number of areas while working at the hospital
By Steve Nolan

The Health and Care Professions Council found that Mr Ramaswamy had showed a ‘lack of competence’ in a number of areas while working at The Christie.
The panel heard that patients and staff had difficulty understanding him, with his command of English said to be getting worse by managers at the hospital despite extra English lessons after taking a job there.

He was also slammed for failing to demonstrate competent handling of equipment and setting up a bed so badly that a supervisor had to step in to stop a patient getting injured.

Mr Ramaswarmy had asked a patient to confirm their name four times before a colleague was forced to intervene because neither the patient nor the member of staff could understand what he was saying.

The radiographer, who lives in Moss Side, also failed to consistently ask patients to empty their bladders before procedures were carried out.
A senior colleague described his practice as being ‘a bit of a hit or a miss’ and he often read out numbers incorrectly.

Because of concerns over his communication skills, he was at first restricted to a role where he had no contact with patients.
He was moved on to the treatment floor in September 2009 for a three-month trial but this proved unsuccessful.

speak-English

Posted by peiper     on 11/22/2012 at 03:14 PM   
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   Monday - November 19, 2012

HOSP. STAFF TOO BUST TO BOTHER, NEW MOM DIES. IS THIS BUSINESS AS USUAL?

What a sad story here. Complicated? No. But I can’t make up my mind if it’s the fault of the National Health in place, or simply the fault of the few idiots involved.
Either way, it should not have happened.

More and more we read of screw ups that happen and lives lost.  Worse still, here on this side of the Atlantic, there have been numerous cases of the hiring of foreign doctors as fill ins due to a shortage of some kind, who have poor language skills and have caused much havoc and even death.
It is scary.  It gets much worse from there and I bet the same sad story in the USA as well.  What I am referring to is the care of the aged. Old age homes or as they are called here, care homes. Either way, not too pretty from what I read in the papers almost every day. Abuse and mistreatment and poor quality care.
I do understand that the papers won’t sell anything if the headline reads, everything is really well and ALL old age people in care homes are deliriously happy.
Still though, even reading one article out of the many I see like this one, or like the photos of care workers caught on security cameras abusing helpless old folks is frightening and very disturbing.  And trust me, when you get to a certain age and have no family to fall back on, you are alone in the world, and can not help but think of what your future might be.  So anyway as I read this I also can not help but wonder, if the NHS can fail in this manner, how’s it gonna work in a country the size of the USA with our population?  Is this what Obama’s health care reforms will look like once in force, if they ever get that far?

On a personal level, my wife is still suffering from the effects of Shingles and severe back pain from a fall.  It’s been six months since her doctor wrote to the pain management clinic and we haven’t heard a word from them. OK, they’re busy and booked solid. We accept that. It happens.  But it would be nice, it really would, if the freekin clinic could find the courtesy to respond to her doctor’s letter. Which they have not done. Or write us as we were told they would, to let us know where in the waiting line the wife is. But no.  Communication isn’t their strong suit here. Meanwhile, due to the vast amount of pills the wife is consuming, I’m having to grit my teeth and ignore the odd time here and there when she drives me up the fuckin wall.  Like projects that have to be suddenly started at the end of the day or in the middle of something else that might be happening.  Not her fault at all, so I endure. Must be worse for her of course.

Hey, speaking of communication as I was.  I mentioned that was not one of the things they do well here. Here’s an example that happened only today.

Needed a locksmith and so last Saturday I called a place the wife’s mom used years ago. There was an old receipt here from the last time they were here which was 2005.  So I called Sat. and was told they could get here at 1pm on Monday. Today.  No problem I said. We’ll be here.  So 1:05pm rolls around and I’m thinking hey, late is okay but shouldn’t they at least call. But no. At 1:31pm there was nobody here and no call either.  So I called and cancelled the order and they didn’t seem to care at all.  Called another locksmith and they were out here in an hour.  It’s happened to us in Calif. too so I’m not picking on the Brits here. But it has happened more often here in the years we’ve been living in this house, than in 20 yrs in TN,KY and Calif.

Mother died after birth as staff were ‘too busy’ to carry out tests

A mother died hours after giving birth to twins because medical staff were “too busy” to check her potassium levels, which were dangerously high, an inquest heard.

By Telegraph reporters

Sarah Dunlop, 35, of Northampton, suffered a fatal heart attack after her boys were delivered at Northampton General Hospital in June last year.

Hours after giving birth by caesarean section, she suffered kidney failure before going into cardiac arrest.

An inquest heard that the heart attack was caused by high levels of potassium in her blood, which medical staff failed to act upon.

Her potassium levels had risen throughout her pregnancy but on the day of her labour, doctors misread test results.

When they eventually sent her for heart tests, there were delays as two scanners failed and another had a flat battery.

Staff also missed symptoms of pre-eclampsia even though Mrs Dunlop had suffered from the condition during a previous pregnancy, the inquest was told.

It was also claimed that she was given a dangerous combination of painkillers that should never be given to pregnant women.

Hours after the birth of her twin sons, Mrs Dunlop’s kidneys failed and she began haemorrhaging. Minutes later she went into cardiac arrest, and despite efforts to resuscitate her, she died.

Thomas Osborne, the coroner, said her death could have been avoided if her high potassium levels had been detected earlier. Recording a narrative verdict, he said: “There was a failure on the part of clinical staff to recognise the serious nature of her condition that resulted in the failure to take the necessary steps to treat her condition.

“She continued to deteriorate and suffered a cardiac arrest and despite attempts at resuscitation, she died at 10.34pm.”

The twins were delivered at 12.40pm on July 11 last year, and Mrs Dunlop was moved to the observation area of the labour ward. The inquest, in Northampton, heard that her urine was not tested and her blood tests were not analysed properly after she was transferred from the labour unit. By the time she started haemorrhaging nothing could be done for her.

Dr Rina Panchal told the inquest that she notified senior colleagues of the abnormal levels of potassium but the labour ward was “extremely busy” that day.

It meant there was a delay in ordering an electrocardiogram (ECG) heart scan. Joanne Romecin, senior midwife, also repeatedly expressed her concerns and eventually carried out the scans but two scanners failed and one had a flat battery.

When a scan was finally completed the printout results — which the inquest heard could have saved Mrs Dunlop’s life — could not be read and it had to be repeated.

Owen Cooper, the consultant who led an initial investigation into the death, said: “There were failings. I’m not going to defend it. We let this woman down.”

Following the inquest, Dr Sonia Swart, medical director at the hospital, said: “We offer our deepest sympathies to Sarah’s family and we are very sorry for the failings in the care that were identified in our own investigation.”

source

Posted by peiper     on 11/19/2012 at 09:25 AM   
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   Thursday - October 18, 2012

Nothing from Me Today

We are on deathwatch here. AGAIN.

The mother in law’s health is fading fast. She’s still in the hospital; the TIPS bypass surgery did not work and may have to be reversed. The decision to just let her go quietly in comfort has been reversed and now everything up to the DNR limit will be attempted, including dialysis and transfusions if necessary. I’m not there, but I’m living by the phone. Who knows what will happen, hour to hour. And everyone involved is just completely exhausted by all of it.

Posted by Drew458     on 10/18/2012 at 11:07 AM   
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   Saturday - October 13, 2012

You must treat all foreigners to protect their rights… but you can still turn away brits. huh??

So you think there’s problem back home (USA) do ya.
Try this bit of insanity on for size.  I don’t have the imagination to figure out what could possibly be next.  Maybe a formal apology to the Germans for 1939?  Makes as much sense as anything else the euros get up to.
What an education I am getting by being here.  Under normal circumstances in my previous life at home in the states, I really doubt I’d come across things like this.  You know, different lifestyle. I’d have a TV set most likely and would be watching the Dodgers.  And that fellow whose last name I forgot, Mike something. Builder and fixer.  One of those home improvement shows.  I’m just saying I’d be busy with other things and this stuff would simply not figure in my life. 

Well anyway …. this is pretty weird stuff.  The Brits really need to get some things seen to before the island finishes sinking. Maybe while they’re doing that, they’d be too busy to be nit picking at the faults found in the USA. And why are they looking anyway?

NHS tells doctors: You must treat all foreigners to protect their human rights… but you can still turn away BRITONS

· Foreigners must be given free treatment by GPs - it is their human right
· New guidelines dictate that doctors must register any foreign patient
· Includes asylum seekers, overseas students or tourists on a short holiday
· Some GPs are furious, describing changes as a ‘charter for health tourism’

By Sophie Borland

Health tourists must be given free treatment by GPs because it is their human right, say NHS bosses.
New guidelines tell doctors across England they must register any foreign patient who asks for care otherwise it would be ‘discriminatory’.
These include asylum seekers, overseas students or tourists coming for a short holiday. Once registered, they will be entitled to the same NHS care as all other patients and can receive free blood tests, jabs and – in some cases – free prescription drugs.
In fact, the new rules will give overseas patients more rights than those living in the UK who can be turned away from surgeries if they live a few yards outside its catchment area.

There are also fears the ruling will make it even harder for local patients to get an appointment.

Already half of patients cannot get an appointment with their doctor within 48 hours, according to the Government’s own figures.

48 Hours?  Heck, I can not get an appointment with my regular doc if needed in less then a month.  OK, so sometimes it’s only been two weeks. But still.  Of course I can always see another doctor at the same
practise. There are about 12 or 15 at the office complex. Just depends on who has a slot that can see you sooner for non emergency stuff.

Some family doctors are furious at the guidelines and describe them as a ‘charter for health tourism’.
They say that such patients, once registered at a surgery, will also find it far easier to be referred to hospital for thousands of pounds of free treatment.
By law, overseas patients are not entitled to be treated at hospital – unless it is urgent – but staff rarely check on their backgrounds.
Until now, GP practices were not legally obliged to register foreigners and many turn away patients if they do not have passports or ‘proof of address’ documents.

But the new guidelines issued to all doctors in England will change this.
One GP, who wished to remain anonymous, said: ‘I am not sure the British taxpayer should be paying for the world’s health treatment for free.’
And Tory MP Chris Skidmore, who is campaigning for tougher regulation on health tourism, said: ‘It is alarming that managers are passing these kind of diktats to doctors, many of whom are rightly worried that GP registration is effectively buying free treatment on the NHS.
‘This is not just about the money, vital though that is – we cannot have the NHS, paid for by taxpayers, being abused by people who pay nothing into the system and who are not eligible for free care.’
Mr Skidmore has obtained figures showing that health tourists currently owe the NHS £40million in unpaid medical bills.

read more

Oh btw …. Brits and French at daggers drawn over fishing rights and French boats have been acting very aggressively against English boats with near ramming actions and surrounding Brit boats to keep them from their job.  No shots fired yet but I hear the Navy might be called in to protect Brit fishing fleet.  Last time they did that was with dustup and Iceland. Pretty sure it was Iceland. Iceland declared an exclusive economic zone beyond its own territorial waters.(1972)
So anyway, Iceland Navy started cutting Brit fishing nets, Brits deployed the RN and they actually started ramming each other. It came to an end in ’76 when Iceland threatened to close a vital NATO base.  Brits said ooops and conceded UK ships would not fish within the 200 mile limit set by Iceland.

Posted by peiper     on 10/13/2012 at 01:37 PM   
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   Thursday - October 11, 2012

A final milestone

The mother - in - law gets surgery today. i will be at the hospital all afternoon and evening. the procedure usually goes well, but it is not without serious risk.

update: FUBAR, SNAFU. Procedure tomorrow at dawn. Another paracentesis today. Everything connected to this situation seems to be out of a Keystone Kops episode.

Posted by Drew458     on 10/11/2012 at 09:21 AM   
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   Monday - October 08, 2012

here but not here

Oh joy, we’re doing another episode of Your Weekly Hospital with the MIL. Different hospital this time, but otherwise the same. And doncha know, she’s there 4 hours and already she knows they don’t know how to do anything.

Oy vey.

Posted by Drew458     on 10/08/2012 at 04:14 PM   
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   Tuesday - September 25, 2012

A full day shot to heck

Had to bring the MIL home from the hospital yesterday. Again. We’re at that point where she’s in just about every week. We know the nurses and aids on that wing of the hospital on a first name basis.

Still, it took up the whole damn day. Or I should say the entire day was spent on her and her needs. 

From 5:30am, when the wifey was up shopping online for a bariatric bedside commode, because ... um, because it’s needed. And even that shopping has been hell for her, because the medical supply market is even more vulturine than the funeral products market. Sure, it’s all online, but the same product that you can create an account as “DR. yourname” and get it for $89 wholesale sells online for a variety of increasing price points from $127 (a, b, c, d) up to nearly $300. Vultures. And that makes it hard for her to decide, and wastes HOURS, because she doesn’t want to get some cheap POS for her mother, etc. So after 6 days of her shopping onlin every morning, I took over and found the best product and price in about 8 minutes.

I went to the factory website, found out that they only make the one model that looks like this, and that the variations on it are merely color codes. -1, -2, etc. One is gray, one is white, one is unpainted steel. As if anyone gives a damn, for a poop chair for a dying woman. Now order the damn thing please. Oh no, I’ll do it this evening ... yeah uh huh, when I’m at bowling league, and she’ll be able to run through the hundreds of models available, AGAIN, for the 154th time, and waste another 4 effing hours on this nonsense. And then resent how much time she’s spending on her mother’s care. WTF? WTFFF?

Yeah, Ok, whatever.  You guys don’t want to hear this. It’s just one example of the circle jerk inefficiency built in to a “caregiver” situation when such care is done by close family: they aren’t even half a step removed from things, so they can’t be objective to anything. Ever. But days get consumed this way. Weeks. And yesterday too. We could have gone bowling, or shopping, or out for a nice fall walk, or done a whole lot of things together ... because this is at least the 5th time the MIL has been released from this hospital, and we know it never happens before 3pm. NEVER.

But then we had to wait around at home because of this and that and you never know what will happen or when the doctor will stop by her room at the hospital and ... crivens. Before I knew it, it was 3:30pm, so now we go and get her. And then when we got her home and hauled her up the stairs into the house, we had to stick around a few more hours until the sister could get in from work to cover for the overnight shift ... and by the time we stopped in at the grocery store for a quick bit of shopping and then whacked together some pasta for dinner, it was after 8. A whole day spent on a single 90 minute task. And the phone is ringing, it’s the MIL, trying to rag me because now her cellphone is receiving text messages. I’d put both daughter’s numbers on speed dial for her at her request; the numbers were already in the phone’s memory, but she’s never bothered to even look at the phone to figure out how the contact list works. She just dials. So now she’s getting a text message and it’s my fault. So MIL, what is the message? What’s it say? “How should I know” she says, “I can’t be bothered to look at it.” Miss Queen High and Mighty. But she can call me up, interrupt my dinner after sucking dry my entire day, to try and give me a ration of shit about it? I don’t think so.

I suggested to my wife that she find a commode with a really extra wide opening. I got the look.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/25/2012 at 07:34 AM   
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   Sunday - September 23, 2012

smoking and tumors and long needles

Well as long as Drew has brought up a health issue in a post ....

I received an interesting email from Drew tonight and part of it got me remembering the past.  Happy to say Drew is doing well with his campaign to end the habit of the deadly weed.  Campaign is a good word as for me it denotes war and quitting smoking is a war.  Of sorts.  Now then, this isn’t a rant against tobacco and as an ex smoker myself I do not agree with the health Nazis who try and make smokers criminals.  Or at least act as if they were criminals.  Good grief.  Smokers are banned from buildings the high taxes they pay, help to pay for the buildings they are banned from smoking in.  Well this post isn’t about that anyway.
It’s more to do with dying, having foreign objects shoved into very private parts
and a caution that bad things can happen to anyone.

I lost people very close to me who were smokers and one who was a chain smoker and drank way, way too much. He was a Nashville songwriter/publisher and all around great guy, gone at 55.  My brother, lung cancer and dead at 46. Six years younger then me.  I recall one very dear friend who was you might say, a smoking buddy.  I say that because in the early years we used to joke about it while we puffed our lives away.  Now he was some years older then myself so when he went (Emphysema) I kind of figured well he was older and so I still had some years ahead and anyway.  I was doing fine.  I remember calling his wife, this was before his death but while he was in the hospital, and called to see if she needed anything the wife and I could get or do for her.  You feel so helpless. Well she told me to call him at the hospital, there was a phone in his room and she gave me the number. She said he’d love to hear from me and it was a matter now of weeks.  So I did, and wish I had not.  There wasn’t much of a conversation to be had and he really didn’t want to hear from anyone. He didn’t say that but you could tell.  And that last call has remained with me all these years later.  And these are only a few examples of people I knew personally. There were others a well. 

Which brings me to the public service part of my …. is this a lecture?  It isn’t a rant.
Lets call it a cautionary tale and a true one based on personal and very unpleasant experience.

I musta been feeling ill or why else visit a doctor? I can no longer remember who I saw or why, but I do recall having an x-ray as part of a check up.  I believe I had an MRI.  A couple of weeks later the doctor’s office called to say there wasn’t anything wrong with heart or lungs (in fact I had and still do, the beginnings of Emphysema but that wasn’t found till later).  But they did see something that called for further examination, and wanted me to see a specialist.  They saw what looked like a shadow on the bladder.  I was referred to a urologist.  I think that’s what he was.
He was also humourless and unsmiling and altogether quite cold but quite competent.

He told me there was this shadow on the x-ray taken, but until he went into the bladder itself, there was no way of knowing what it was.  He also said it could be and most probably was, a tumor.  But unless he went in there, he would not be able to tell if it was malignant or not.  So a date was set for an exam a week away, and I went home happily smoking my non filter Lucky Strikes. 

Hey guys, ever had a needle stuck into your more sensitive part?  OUCH does NOT cover it.  And the FEAR makes it even worse.  I had no idea what I let myself in for.
You’re on this table with your legs open and up in stirrups, there’s lots of cloth of some kind with an opening for your limp and angry friend to peek through. You never imagined it could get that small.  Of course, it had never been that frightened before either, so it was a new experience for both of us. 
Trust me guys, you do NOT want this. But wait, there’s more.

They tell you they are going to numb the passage with painkiller so you won’t feel the examination probe.  Probe?  Hey wait.  Too late. 
Someone has this needle, a real one, not a movie prop, and they gonna put that looooong thing, maybe about three feet long, into your frightened lifelong partner who is now demanding a divorce.  They say you will experience a slight sting which will be the numbing agent.  Wait a minute.  You’re gonna hurt me to make it all better so I won’t feel the next step? It’s maybe no longer then a half inch to an inch but from where you’re viewing it, it’s a yard long needle.  Where’s the damn exit?  But it’s too late and Doctor Frankenstein’s assistant is there with the instrument of torture, and you’re on this damn table trying to back away with no place to go and in goes that thing and you will scream cause it not only stings but feels like the inside of your ex-friend is being torn. 

So now you have to wait about 20 minutes for the numbing stuff to work. And by now your back hurts too.  In comes Dr. Death or at least looking like it to you, and he starts to insert that awful probe.  But guess what?

THE NUMBING AGENT ISN’T WORKING !!!

Now your very limp and ex very angry friend is threatening a law suit at the least or maybe a firing squad. You are hurting and so …..  another jab in the sore part and another wait for that to work.

Result …. doc says it’s a girl.  Haha.  Actually, my doctor would never have thought to say that. I did cos it’s sounds funny.

What he actually said was, it’s a tumor, it’s malignant. It’s large.  It has to be removed and soon.  Wanna guess what part of you is used for the tumor’s exit?  He said these tumors are not painful until just at the end, and I had a month to go.

Ain’t it odd.  I wasn’t having any bladder problems. No blockage, no pain in the bathroom, no bleeding.  Nothing to suggest what was growing there.  But I was assured I’d have been dead in a short time.

After the surgery, and I don’t suppose you folks wanna hear about my hospital stay.
Or the catheter shoved inside me minus any pain killer of any kind.

Well after the surgery as I was saying when I interrupted myself, I was told I had to have an exam in six months time, to see if the tumor had returned. If all clear, another exam in another six months. After that, I was to have an exam every two or three years. I had the first two exams, the pain wasn’t any less let me tell you.  I decided the pain of the exam was not worth the life that might be saved and stopped having them. 

The Emphysema is stable and not expected to get any worse unless I start smoking again.  Fat chance of that.
And please make no mistake.  My experience was directly related to smoking.  I guess it just hits different ppl in different ways.  And NO. I did not sue American Tobacco. Or anyone else.

I have NOT had any further exams even though warned of what the consequences could be.  Well no thanks.  I do not ever want to revisit that experience. 
My ex-friend isn’t on speaking terms with me, and as I told the doctor who gave me the warning re future exams; What? Me Worry?

After death, there is no pain, and no taxes.

Posted by peiper     on 09/23/2012 at 02:12 PM   
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What the BLANK could possibly go wrong?

via Western Center for Journalism.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/23/2012 at 10:06 AM   
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   Friday - September 07, 2012

hate being on time when others aren’t.

I believe it’s fair to say that not one person reading this has not felt pain of some kind in their lifetime.  Some perhaps more then others.
So I will not write at any length about my wife’s pain right now but want to tell you about a misadventure that occurred this week.

My wife has had a back curse (it’s been beyond a problem for a long time) and has managed to hold up pretty well.  Ask her how she feels and she will without hesitation tell you, “terrific.” Of course more often then not I remind her, “Jenn, you lie like a rug.”

So along with the damn shingles thing and the ensuing maddening itch, behind her right eye and right side of head, she’s been on pain meds for the back and with no success whatever.  Morphine apparently is quite selective in who it wants to help, and it most assuredly does not want to help her.  Of course her doctor is very well aware of the condition and all the pills being taken on a daily basis.

About a week ago her doctor called her in for another exam.  Used to be the docs in the practice we go to were bang on time with appointments, unless an emergency called them away.  But generally over here, they do not double and triple book as is done in the states.  At least they didn’t use to.

Her appointment was for 11:40 in the morning and as is our habit, we will go to extremes to be on time.  And early whenever we can.  So we’re there about 8 minutes early and there’s the wife in the waiting room, and she suggests to me that I might want to take the time as we seem to have plenty, to go downstairs to the shops and pick up a few wanted items and my magazine which I keep threatening to subscribe to but haven’t.  This I did and took about 15 minutes doing it and went back only to find that she still had not been called in.  Not the worst thing that can happen.  Unless you’re hurting a lot.  She was finally called at 12.  Doctor said she wanted the wife to have a blood test as perhaps there was something else going on we needed to be aware of.  Nothing specific now but she felt a blood test should be done, and said she’s set things in motion, we wouldn’t need the usual paperwork.  Make an appointment to see the Phlebotomist who comes in 2wice a week, or just go to the hosp. where they do that with no appointments, but the wait can be longer depending on how busy they get.  It’s one of those pick a number things and you’re called when your number shows on the board.  Well, due to how bad the wife was feeling, I suggested she make an appointment at the offices we were in and go home immediately. Which we did.

The blood test was scheduled for 11:50 in the morning yesterday. As usual we were on time.  Unfortunately the vampire wasn’t, and it was 12:05 before the wife was called in.  And out she came a minute later.  Quick blood test?  Nope.

The nurse taking blood samples had no record of a doctor’s request for my wife’s blood test in her computer, and since my wife had no paperwork, she hadn’t a clue as to what sort of test was needed.

My wife’s doctor, who has in the past shown a slight problem with paperwork, apparently forgot to enter any information with a test request.

Oh yeah, the good doctor is on holiday at the moment.
She left for a week or so on the day before the scheduled test.

So now we wait. Again.  And will go through the whole damn procedure.  Again.

Posted by peiper     on 09/07/2012 at 10:50 AM   
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   Friday - August 24, 2012

bet america just can’t wait to have national health. look at the benefits america.

Milking the NHS

Nigerian woman told she needs Caesarean immediately flies into Britain for operation - costing UK taxpayers £10,000

She travelled 3,200 miles from Lagos to cash-strapped Wythenshawe hospital in Manchester

By JAYA NARAIN

A Heavily-pregnant woman flew from her home in Nigeria to take advantage of the NHS by having her baby in Britain.

She had £10,000 of treatment but is understood to have returned to Nigeria with her baby without paying a penny.

The woman travelled 3,200 miles from Lagos to Manchester because she was worried about the standard of care in her own country and thought she would be in safer hands.

Two midwives, two urology consultants, a radiology consultant, two obstetric consultants and two anaesthetists attended her in the delivery room before her healthy baby was born by emergency Caesarean section on Wednesday of last week.

Before she was discharged on Monday, hospital staff sought billing details for the woman and told her the cost of the treatment was around £10,000. However, she is not thought to have paid anything.

Health minister Simon Burns said: ‘We won’t tolerate abuse of our health service. The NHS has a duty to anyone whose life or long-term health is at immediate risk but it is not there to serve the health needs of the globe.’

Hospitals are allowed to bill non-EU patients who travel from their home countries to the UK for medical treatment on the NHS.

But health sources say that in reality patients often return to their homeland without paying and the debts are then almost impossible to recover.

The Harvard-educated woman flew to Manchester Airport and went directly to Wythenshawe Hospital.

It is believed she chose the well-respected university hospital because she knew it had a maternity unit and was less than two miles from the airport.

On arrival she told doctors she had undergone an ultrasound scan in Nigeria which revealed complications with her pregnancy which suggested a Caesarean was advisable.

Nigeria offers free maternity treatment but the quality of the care is very poor and there is a high mortality rate. A woman there has a one in 13 chance of dying during pregnancy or childbirth, according to recent statistics.

Her baby was born at Wythenshawe without complication.

Mr Burns said: ‘There are comprehensive rules and procedures to charge visitors for hospital treatment but we know that the system needs to be improved.

HEY!  Does that now make baby niglet a Brit citizen?  Born here and all. ??
Lyndon?  Any answers?

And mommy can’t be too terribly stupid. She knew how to play the Brit system AND, Harvard educated?

But wait, there’s more.

Posted by peiper     on 08/24/2012 at 09:17 AM   
Filed Under: • Health-Medicine •  
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   Wednesday - August 22, 2012

good things come to those who wait.  really?

I keep threatening to quit reading papers or listening to radio news because I always find them so damned upsetting. And why shouldn’t they be? Many things defy logic by which I guess I mean the law for one thing. Oh there’s law okay. But there is simply no justice. If there is I can’t see it.
I won’t rehash some of the subjects I’ve already covered but would like to bring up something that we are faced with. So it’s personal.

I think I’ll start with a criminal that has no relation to our situation except for the fact that the bastard is getting what might be thought first rate medical care, in a private hospital and at the expense of the txpayer.

There’s this animal who weighs 322 pounds and is serving time for murder, and at the cost of £15,000 ($ 23,694.00 ) has had surgery and been fitted with a gastric band.
Let me tell you about this guy.

He was sent to prison for killing two women. He cut flesh from the arms of one of his victims and ate it.

Deprived of human flesh in Broadmoor, he piled on the pounds gorging on cake and potato chips until he was considered dangerously obese.
He was given private treatment after spending just three months on an NHS waiting list.

I’ll let Richard Littlejohn take up his story for a bit.

Before we get to the question of why he was given private treatment, it is legitimate to ask how he was ever allowed to stuff himself silly in the first place.
Broadmoor is a high-security hospital. They were in a position to control his food intake. Why was he allowed unlimited crisps and cakes? Didn’t anyone notice he was getting fat?
More to the point, wouldn’t it have been easier to put him on a diet instead of sending him for surgery?
And why let him go private? So what if he was on an NHS waiting list?
He wasn’t going anywhere.

Which brings me to my wife, who is still quite ill but mostly it’s the degenerative condition in her back causing unbearable pain at times.  As well, the never ending itchy head left by Shingles for which she is still taking mega doses of medication.

Well, as to the pain.  Most of the time she can’t even stand long enough to make a cup of tea or a salad and forget about breakfast.  Sometimes after the morphine I don’t even want her trying to stand up. Although things look pretty bad the way I write them, while they are indeed lousy, they are not dire or life threatening.

Well, almost three months ago her doctor wrote to the pain management clinic here. to set up a “consultation” with a specialist. Not the treatment mind, just the consultation which has to proceed any treatment if there is any for her condition.  And so we wait.

Well, fancy this bit of good luck. For our cannibal criminal. As I said above, he was given private treatment after spending just three months on an NHS waiting list.

My wife hasn’t gone quite three months yet, but it just annoys me that someone like that can get such quick treatment and private no less, while my wife waits just to speak to a specialist. His condition I take it is thought to be life threatening due to his overweight.
Now I can understand you asking, then why doesn’t she go private.
And that’s another subject for an even longer post I don’t have the patience or time for today.

Bah. Frankly I hope the bastard chokes on his next meal.

Posted by peiper     on 08/22/2012 at 08:49 AM   
Filed Under: • Health-Medicine •  
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   Monday - July 30, 2012

died in hospital after she was denied food and water.

Well why not? What the hell.  There’s already been a young man die of thirst in a hospital.  Why not an older lady die of hunger?
Alright, a bit more involved but hey.  Something is mighty damn wrong when things like this can make the headlines so often, and yet instead of easing things as in getting better, more people are screwing up.  It’s as if they aren’t aware that the press and public will find out and ask, why? How does this happen?  Sadder yet for family as they unknowingly contributed to the blunder, because they listened to and believed what the doctors were telling them. 

Scandal of healthy grandmother who died in hospital after going without food for seven days

By ANDREW LEVY

A healthy, active grandmother died in hospital after she was denied food and water for more than a week.

Joan Pertoldi, 76, was put on a nil-by-mouth regime while she waited for a routine hip operation at the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital in Welwyn Garden City.

Her family was told she would be operated on within 48 hours but the procedure was put off three times – twice because the prosthesis due to be inserted into the joint was not properly sterilised.

Other delays occurred because there weren’t enough staff at weekends.

The operation eventually went ahead eight days after she was admitted but, severely weakened, Mrs Pertoldi never recovered and died in hospital a few weeks later.

During her stay, Mrs Pertoldi was dropped by nurses on one occasion because they failed to consult physiotherapists’ notes which explained how much assistance she needed to walk.

After becoming dehydrated, Mrs Pertoldi developed a urinary infection which, the family say, lead to blood poisoning because doctors failed to tackle the problem.

She also developed a blocked bowel and contracted superbug clostridium difficile which caused her organs to fail, leading to her eventual death.

Hertfordshire coroner, Edward Thomas has now ordered the hospital to investigate the blunders and her family are considering legal action, claiming she died due to neglect.

The pensioner’s daughter, Anna Pertoldi, said: ‘The treatment my mother received in hospital was disgraceful. When mum went into hospital she was in good spirits. But because of the cancellations she was left weak and then quickly went downhill.

‘Being left on nil-by-mouth was just one of a number of failings my mother had to suffer. Basic standards of care and nursing weren’t there.’

The Daily Mail as highlighted substandard care in its Dignity for the Elderly campaign.

But Mrs Pertoldi’s case also comes after an inquest into the death of 22-year-old Kane Gorny, who died of dehydration while in hospital for a hip operation.

He phoned police from his bed because he was so thirsty but staff at St George’s Hospital in London, told officers he was confused and sent them away.

READ MORE

Posted by peiper     on 07/30/2012 at 12:27 PM   
Filed Under: • Health and Safety • Health-Medicine • UK •  
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   Friday - July 27, 2012

wipes patient with urine soaked sheet but, There is no evidence of general incompetence.’

Thaddee Nsengiyaremye?
What the hell kind of a name is that?  OK, I got the first one but the alphabet soup last one defies me.  Maybe they didn’t sack the lazy jerk because they could spell or pronounce the name.

So now he’s working in a care home?  They’re allowing this gorilla to work in a care home, instead of deporting him?

The he treated one patient, read below, should have been auto dismissal.  Oh wait.  Isn’t he a member of a favored and protected group?  Whoops. Never mind.  He can’t be fired cos it’d violate him cibil rights.
Someday this total turd will be old too.  Maybe with some luck he’ll be feeble and old and be tended by some jerk with his work ethic.

One of the damn scary things about old age innit?

I guess the best defense is a good supply of sleeping pills.  Just hoard those little suckers for the day when.

So here’s what I’m banging on about.  And I’m sure some of you can find stories in the USA that might be the same or close to this.

Nurse who failed to spot a patient had suffered a stroke for EIGHT HOURS is not sacked.

Nurse was supposed to check on patient regularly but checked her only at 9pm and 5.25am the next day

He made no record of patient’s care

Admitted wiping another patient down with bed sheet soaked in her own urine

Council said ban would not be ‘proportionate’

Nurse now works in a care home

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

A nurse who failed to notice an elderly woman had suffered a stroke for more than eight hours has avoided being struck off.

Thaddee Nsengiyaremye missed making nine vital checks overnight as the patient recovered from a hip operation.

He ignored her for several hours as she fell unconscious, her pulse dropped alarmingly and her arms went limp.

When Nsengiyaremye finally checked on her, more than eight hours after the last observation, he did not realise she had suffered a stroke and waited more than half an hour to call for help.

He admitted a string of charges against him when he appeared at a Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing in central London.

But the panel ruled he could continue in the profession because there was no evidence of ‘general incompetence’.

Nsengiyaremye will have to work under supervision and undertake further training over the next 18 months.

Panel chair David Flinter said: ‘A conditions of practice order will sufficiently address the panel’s concerns and adequately protect the public.

‘We have seen records of your supervision sessions in your current employment, which indicate improvement in your clinical practice.

‘There is no evidence of general incompetence.’

Nsengiyaremye was working a night shift at the Sussex Orthopaedic NHS Treatment Centre in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, on April 19, 2010, when he took charge of caring for the woman, referred to as Patient B.

His boss Michelle Hailey told the hearing he should have been checking on her regularly as she recovered from a hip operation at the treatment centre.

‘Even if the protocol is not being properly followed, you would expect someone who has just come out of surgery to have regular observations’, she said.

He was expected to make hourly checks until 2.30am and two-hourly observations after that.

But Nsengiyaremye actually checked on her just once, at 9pm, before finding her critically unwell at 5.25am.

‘There was nothing done by the registrant at 8pm, he carried out observations at 9pm, and then nothing is done by him from 10pm until 6pm,’ said Joanna Dirmikis, for the NMC.

‘He ought to have been carrying out hourly observations until 2.30am.’

The hearing was told the woman had a weak pulse, high blood pressure, and her breathing was abnormal when Nsengiyaremye checked on her at 5.25am.

But instead of immediately calling for a doctor, he went to collect a machine to carry out more tests.

When the ambulance was finally called, at 6am, the patient was rushed to the Princess Royal Hospital opposite for emergency treatment.

Mr Flinter said giving Nsengiyaremye a ban would not be proportionate or helpful.

‘The conduct was serious and not isolated, but areas of retraining have been identified’, he said.

‘We have concluded it would not be proportionate to suspend you and deprive you of the opportunity to address the concerns about your practice.’

Nsengiyaremye admitted all the charges against him, including not making a record of his care of patient B until he was ordered to by Ms Hailey more than 10 hours after his shift had finished.

He was also found to have not made vital records of a patient’s fluid levels during the shift.

The registered nurse further admitted a previous incident when he wiped a patient with a bed sheet soaked in her own urine and refusing to give her a bath.

The woman rang the bell for her bedpan to be changed while Nsengiyaremye was working on November 9, 2009, but he was slow to respond.

When he finally arrived, Nsengiyaremye was aggressive towards the patient, refused to change her urine-soaked gown, and wiped her down with the dirty bed sheet he had just stripped off the bed.

Nsengiyaremye now works in a care home and must undertake regular supervision sessions, as well as adhering to a training plan relating to infection control, medication administration, record keeping, and recognition of clinical treatment.

Posted by peiper     on 07/27/2012 at 09:51 AM   
Filed Under: • DIVERSITY BS • Health and Safety • Health-Medicine • UK •  
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