Mrs Edwards will no longer need to take up time and space in Hospital Emergency rooms.
Just think of what we can do for your family.
Posted on 02/22/2005 6:28:42 AM PST by ijcr
The family of a 94-year-old widow who died days after a 34-hour wait on a hospital trolley have spoken of their upset at the way she way treated.
Bernard Edwards' aunt Phyllis was suffering from pneumonia when she arrived at casualty at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.
Her family said she lay for hours among drunk patients and others with minor injuries, and died a few days later.
A hospital spokesman said pressures at the unit remained "significant".
Mr Edwards, from Cardiff, said he complained repeatedly but staff were unable to find a bed for her to be moved to.
She was a dignified lady and to see her lying there in this cold, empty cubicle on a trolley just broke our hearts
Mrs Edwards' condition worsened on two occasions but she remained on the trolley, only moving between cubicles.
Her nephew and his partner Elizabeth Philpott, with whom she had lived for four years, stayed at her bedside throughout.
"Me and Elizabeth just sat there and held her hand," said Mr Edwards.
"There was a chap came in, he looked like he had been in a fight.
"There was another guy came in who was obviously quite drunk and they (hospital staff) had to see to him as well."
Mr Edwards described his aunt as "the loveliest, kindest, the gentlest, nicest lady that I have ever had the fortune to know".
"She was a dignified lady and to see her lying there in this cold, empty cubicle on a trolley just broke our hearts," he added.
Mr Edwards said he blamed the system, not the staff at the hospital, adding he had not received an apology for his aunt's treatment.
A spokesman for the University Hospital of Wales said he could not comment on individual cases but offered sincere condolences to Mrs Edwards' family.
The spokesman also said pressures on the emergency unit remained significant and there were occasions when patients had to wait longer than the hospital would have liked.
British cost containment.
Just like yesterday's story about the fat Brit who was taken forcibly to a mental hospital for compulsive overeating.
I thought that SOCIALISTIC health care was the BOMB!?
Hitlary?
Oh Hitlary?
Hitlary Klintoon????
34 HOURS? THIRTY-FOUR HOURS? For the love of Heaven.......that is obscene.
Socialized medicine at your service......
Government Health Care... NEVER OVER MY DEAD BODY!
We had a friend who lifed in Britain, she had her miscarriage alone in a JANITORS CLOSET because the local clinic was understaffed and full when she got there!
Don't you dare lecture the USA about health care... My destitute father in law had a stroke and lived his last few years in a Nursing Home that took excellent care of him, far better than anything the British national Health system has available! He didn't have a dime to his name and he got excellent care.
You want to see neglect, go to nations that have nationalized health care and look around.. its disgraceful.
OOO boy!
Socialized medicine, Huzzah!
Can't wait til it comes here. He##, the woman was old. Those drunks were younger and a whole lot easier to help!
/sarcasm
There a nurse can admit you, you may have to wait for a day or THREE to see a doctor. Their system is broken worse than ours. I would rather be alive and crippled with debt than dead on the govt' dime.
Ah, the joys of a monopoly.
Just think of what we can do for your family.
I doubt that her family could even sue the government owned hospital for negligence.
You are right, try getting a single one of the culprits to own up.
Never happens. The NHS is a disaster and everyone over 70 is terrified of never coming out alive.
This is despite Blair throwing billions and billions at it.
I have a large extended family which lives in Britain. Scotland, England, Wales etc. My two aunts work in the "system" there. They say it sucks. Also they always point out that anyone with money goes to a private doctor.
At least her nephew and his girlfriend were with her, after caring for her at home for 4 years. God bless them!
What's the defining characteristic of a government health service? It's one word, a word that, in its medical context, doesn't exist south of the border--"waiting," as in "waiting list," "waiting times," waiting, waiting, waiting.I was sick over the summer and, down in New Hampshire, I went to see the local doctor, who referred me to a specialist. Let's just run through that manoeuvre again, in case it happened too quickly for those accustomed to Quebec levels of treatment: I saw the GP on Tuesday, got referred, saw the specialist Thursday. As is often the case in the U.S., the doctor was Canadian, and indeed came from a long line of Canadian doctors--both his parents practise in Ottawa. Making idle chitchat as his fingers felt his way around my fleshly delights, he explained that "waiting" is built into the concept of a government health service: "If you need surgery," he said, "it's in my interest to get you in and operated on as soon as possible, because that's money for me. The faster it happens, the better my cash flow. But when the government runs the system, every time you get operated on it costs the government money. So it's in their interest to restrict or delay your access. When you look at the overall budgets--salaries, buildings--it's not hard to understand that the level of service you provide to the patient is one of your few discretionary costs. So the incentive is to reduce that."
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