His hospital stay turned out to be a nightmare. A patient at Salford Hospital, not far from Manchester (England), was forced to call the police to ask for painkillers. A 73-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease was completely neglected by hospital staff. Rajinda Sandesh.
“You are not a priority”
The septuagenarian was taken care of just days after spinal surgery. Only the latter did not go as planned and was martyred. His repeated calls for help, however, changed nothing: “We have no power to prescribe. Doctors are busy with more than 100 patients. You are not a priority,” caregivers may have responded.
Calling the police allowed him to still get his painkillers. But a few days later, a new shocking episode occurred on the hospital grounds: he had to wait several hours to be changed after spilling a bottle of urine on his bed.
serious damage
Finally transferred to a new department, the patient became frustrated. “He was the most neglected patient I have ever seen in an intensive care unit in my 38-year medical career,” said the doctor who examined him.
The affair created a stir in the United Kingdom. The Northern Care Alliance, an arm of the NHS (National Health Service), the public health system, launched an investigation and a Department of Health spokeswoman apologised. It was publicly acknowledged that the patient was seriously harmed.
