May I ask....is this a VA hospital or a private one? Just curious.... I know that there is variation in care in the US, but what you relate is truly awful and is beneath any standards that I've ever heard of.
And that's really the point....although sometimes there may be horror stories from hospitals in the US as you relate, they are not the norm and they are not representative of the laws and the standards that are in place, whereas this article details the actual laws to be implemented in Great Britain. These will be the standards and the norm, not the exception.
I'm very sorry to hear of your friend's misfortune and sincerely wish him a speedy recovery.
Thanks for your prompt response. As you no doubt have guessed I am in a state of high dudgeon myself. No, the Flagstaff Medical Center is a privately owned, or should I say corporately owned, citadel which dominates the medical care of our growing town of about 50,000. A medical cabal within the community owns and operates "The Big House." My friend was told that he couldn't have hot water because he was on the third floor. His private physician demanded that he be brought down a floor so he could have a shower after my friend's wife and I announced that we were moving him to the VA hospital in Prescott before he began to supurate. I don't mean to sound hysteric about this but in the last 10 years I have seen two friends die of mysterious, undiagnosed infections in beds in the place after minor surgeries. I've stayed on the 20th floor of hotels and had no trouble with hot water. Basically, it is a grossly underpaid staff and a grossly greedy management team which has resulted in a situation where the accounting department calls the shots. Frankly, if I were sick, I would rather lie out in the city park and receive the ministrations of the winos. I know of at least a couple of competent physicians who have resigned their privileges over too many incidents like this at this hospital.