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I don’t think she died because she was English... I think she died because the costs of her lifetime care were going to be enormous. She was on the transplant list, had cystic fibrosis since she was an infant, they had already treated numerous infections and no doubt some doctor (or nurse, or administrator) realized that if she pulled through this the costs were going to be VERY large — to THE SYSTEM.

This is not the first story I’ve read of such “treatment” of people with chronic illness in Britain. Sadly, I doubt this will be the last such story we hear. In fact, once Obamacare hits full-swing we won’t even need to go “across the pond” to find these stories...

Follow the money...

One more comment for ya — now, I don’t know what the medical schools are like in Britain (which could make a BIG difference), but when my husband needed back surgery his doctor was Middle-Eastern (most likely Muslim) but performed the surgery in a CATHOLIC hospital. He was an incredible surgeon, and my husband has had NO long-term remaining problems AT ALL - even though he had two discs that were herniated.

My daughter had a VERY rare infection in her leg at the beginning of this year. The first hospital I took her to “missed” the diagnosis (thinking it was a hematoma even though there was no bruising, and no history of ANY injury - much less one that would cause a hematoma that large). ALL of her doctors, techs, nurses, etc... at that hospital were “Caucasian” of some sort.

I disagreed with the diagnosis and called our regional medical center who agreed to take a look at her, and ended up admitting her to the Children’s Hospital there within an hour of our arriving... Thank God that hospital and the doctors on staff there LISTENED to me when I said she hadn’t been hurt. She was admitted to the CANCER ward (supposedly due to the illnesses in the regular children’s ward, but I knew it was because it was DEFINITELY a possibility in her case).

Her team of doctors? Two “Indians” (from India), a very old German man, his “understudy” doctor was a recent immmigrant from Eastern Europe (her accent sounded like she was from the Ukraine), a Latino doctor, and a couple “caucasians”. [The hospital staff looks like a UN meeting!] My daughter received INCREDIBLE care, and was diagnosed with a VERY RARE infection that presented in an EXTREMELY RARE (if not almost unheard of way). These fine doctors, lab techs, nurses, and all other support staff (again looking like a UN meeting complete with thick accents) SAVED HER LIFE.

SO, it has NOTHING to do with the ETHNICITY of a doctor, and has EVERYTHING to do with their competency. IOW — a team of doctors that looked and sounded as if we were in the UN saved my daughters’ life, when our local hospital (with folks looking and sounding ALL like “us”) with their mis-diagnosis could have cost her her life — IF I wasn’t there to advocate for her, and if I wasn’t one who LOVES medical information and had years of informal study (just reading about stuff because it’s interesting to me).

SO, all in all... It doesn’t matter where a person comes from, what they look like, what they sound like, etc... What it comes down to is COMPETENCY, and willingness to LISTEN to their patients and family instead of what they “think” MUST have happened.

To think otherwise is ridiculous (and bigoted).

In this case, the BIGGEST thing missing? A PERSONAL ADVOCATE for the patient. WHERE was her mother and father while she was in the hospital? THEY are not the reason she died, but if they were there they could’ve forced them to pay attention. [AND, of course the system there was a factor in her care - without a doubt.] I’m not saying these doctors and nurses in that hospital where the girl was AREN’T incompetent, but if they are it has NOTHING to do with their “ethnicity” nor their names...