Heart attack? Come later (Patient in pain turned away from U.K. medical center)

The Sun (U.K.) ^ | EMMA MORTON

[Stoat]

EXCLUSIVE

Heart attack? Come later

Booted out ... Mike Goldstone recovering in hospital
 

By EMMA MORTON

A DOCTORS' receptionist turned away a man having a severe heart attack - and told him to come back later.

The woman told salesman Mike Goldstone that the doctors were all too busy to see him even though he was doubled over with crippling chest pains.

He struggled to his car and drove to a client's house where an ambulance was called to take him to hospital.

Mike, 60, still in hospital recovering last night, said: "I thought I was going to die.

"She threw me out on the street and left me to fend for myself in the middle of a heart attack."

Mike, of Newhaven, Sussex, was driving to an appointment when the pains began.

He found the nearest surgery - Claremont Medical Centre in Surbiton, Surrey - and staggered in.

Mike said: "I held on to the receptionist's counter and said, 'Look, I've got severe chest pains and in my back and shoulder. Can I see a doctor?' She just said. 'No'.


 

Lessons ... Mike could complain
 

"I was astounded. She said she could book me an appointment later on in the afternoon, or I could go to hospital. But I had no idea where that was.

"I said, 'Is that it?' and she said, 'Yes'. I told her, 'This is absolutely appalling'."

Mrs Urda Shah, the client who called the ambulance, said she was stunned to learn the receptionist turned Mike away.

She added: "You could see from his face he was in a lot of pain."

Ann Matthews, the practice manager at Claremont Medical Centre, said last night: "We don't treat patients, we don't treat people like that. No comment."

But a spokesman for the local NHS trust last night said Mike could make an official complaint against the centre.

He added: "We will be working with Claremont Medical Centre to ensure that any appropriate lessons are learned."

[Stoat]

Another apalling example of Socialized 'medicine'. Whether the medical center staff knew how to treat a heart attack patient or not is irrelevant. They could have given him a chair to sit in and called an ambulance....this is something that any decent human being would have done for another.

One aspect of Socialism is the gradual stripping away of humanity, which is replaced by the bureaucracy of The State. It's astonishing that this common trend would be illustrated in such a breathtakingly brutal manner by an organization that supposedly is dedicated to helping others.

[Keith in Iowa]

This is what US health care will look like if sKerry-Backwards are elected.

[TheBattman]

Yep - and Kerry wants the same type of system here....

[Stellar Dendrite]

[Truth666]

One aspect of Socialism is the gradual stripping away of humanity, which is replaced by the bureaucracy of The State.
replaced by the bureaucracy yesterday but replaced by mass murder under the cover of euthanasia or assisted suicide.

[Fiddlstix]

The joys of wonderful socialized medicine. Remember everybody this is what the RATS want for US.

[rocksblues]

Could this be the October surprise? (/hope)

[mollynme]

(Easier to read)

[discipler]

OH Wow! Nice Poster!

[Gorzaloon]

One aspect of Socialism is the gradual stripping away of humanity, which is replaced by the bureaucracy of The State. It's astonishing that this common trend would be illustrated in such a breathtakingly brutal manner by an organization that supposedly is dedicated to helping others.

I understand that they do not dialyze kidney patients over 65. If this is not true, I would be grateful to any Brit who wishes to set me straight....That sounds so appalling I cannot bring myself to believe it. That is euthanasia on the installment plan.

I suppose when you succeed in disarming a population you can do whatever you want with them.

[nascartex]

Yup, this is what our medical system will look like if Kerry is elected. Another thing you can toss around is if our system doesn't work, why do foreginers come here for medical care? We must be doing something better than their countries.

[lainde]

One aspect of Socialism is the gradual stripping away of humanity, which is replaced by the bureaucracy of The State.

You've nailed it. I've seen it in our HMOs (socialized medicine "lite"). You get paid if you see your required 30 patients a day and make no exceptions. I'm amazed how few medical personnel will go the distance to fit in patient 31 or 32. Part of the problem is seeing a patient every 10-15 minutes is very shaky medicine, demoralizing, impersonal, and exhausting. Do this year after year and I've noticed that eventually they just don't care on a personal level. The people who make the extra effort and see more people or spend longer with patients are actually penalized when the bureaucrats see that their "stats" aren't good. The final horror is when heart attack patients are sent away because they disrupt the "schedule". This story raises so many serious issues.

[conshack]

This is what JF'n and Hillary want for the USA. I had a heart attack 4 years ago and people were swarming around me to help. I layed on the gurney and had at least 12 medical people working on me within minutes. Amazing. I'll vote for JF'n so I can get the same treatment as this guy did. (sarcasm off)

[Anticommie]

Heart attack? Come later (Patient in pain turned away from U.K. medical center)

Ketchup boy's free health care at it's best.

[Anticommie]

Heart attack? Come later (Patient in pain turned away from U.K. medical center)

Ketchup boy's free health care at it's best.

[ApplegateRanch]

"I understand that they do not dialyze kidney patients over 65."

I'm not a Brit, but I once played one in a class production...

Check out these two articles, and you will find that age per se is not used; but that age discrimination is seen as rampant in NHS hospitals by GPs that send or treat patients in them. You'll also see a comparison and contrast of Brit, Canadian, and US criteria. The first is more detailed, butabout four or five years old; the other covers the age-discrimination issue, and is last year.

http://qjmed.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/full/93/4/253

http://www.medicalpost.com/mpcontent/article.jsp?content=/content/EXTRACT/RAWART/3622/54a.html

No, I'm not a expert, or professional, either, and haven't even played one of those.

[RedMonqey]

(Patient in pain turned away from U.K. medical center)


-"We will be working with Claremont Medical Centre to ensure that any appropriate lessons are learned."

." lessons learned." ?



Yep - don't have a severe heart attack in the Socialized Britain.

[Museum Twenty]

bump