Patients Forced to Suffer by British NHS

(Staffordshire, England) A study of the operations of a National Health Service (NHS) trust has created a scandal. Stafford Hospital is accused of causing "unimaginable suffering."

Patients were routinely neglected or left “sobbing and humiliated” by staff at an NHS trust where at least 400 deaths have been linked to appalling care.

An independent inquiry found that managers at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust stopped providing safe care because they were preoccupied with government targets and cutting costs.

The inquiry report, published yesterday by Robert Francis, QC, included proposals for tough new regulations that could lead to managers at failing NHS trusts being struck off.

Staff shortages at Stafford Hospital meant that patients went unwashed for weeks, were left without food or drink and were even unable to get to the lavatory. Some lay in soiled sheets that relatives had to take home to wash, others developed infections or had falls, occasionally fatal. [...]

The report, which follows reviews by the Care Quality Commission and the Department of Health, said that “unimaginable” suffering had been caused. Regulators said last year that between 400 and 1,200 more patients than expected may have died at the hospital from 2005 to 2008. [my bold]

Simple math tells us that 100 to 300 people a year are being killed in one facility by the medical care system. Simple prognostication tells us that America can expect the same when full-blown ObamaCare is in effect. I feel ill.

Tip: Rita L.