Brickbat: Starved in Plain Sight

In England, a National Health Service hospital's official report confirmed that Adrian Poulton, who had Down syndrome and was admitted for a broken hip, died after being deprived of food for nine days. While his hip was healing, doctors listed him "nil by mouth," meaning he was given nothing to eat, but he was never provided an alternative source of nutrition. The report states that lack of nutrition contributed to his death. During that time, his family believed he was being fed in hospital, even as Poulton told his sister, "I don't want to die." In its response, the hospital apologized and said it had carried out a serious incident review and committed to staff education on caring for patients with learning disabilities.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

wtf

[mad.casual]

All my hopes and dreams of waking up in a British hospital have been shattered.

[Chumby]

You’ll wake up in a Whitechapel alley with a rapefugee in your mouth. If you complain on social media, Scotland Yard will file charged against you.

[jimc5499]

It isn't only a British Hospital. I ruptured my quadricep tendon about 10 years ago. I was admitted to the hospital and told that I would have surgery that evening to repair it. As a result, I got nothing to eat. The next day came and went without surgery again nothing to eat. The following day I got the surgery so nothing to eat then because of the anesthesia. The following day I asked where my breakfast was and was told that I was still on the schedule for surgery. Finally the orthopedic doctor comes in and I asked about a second surgery and he said that there wasn't one everything was fine. I asked why I couldn't eat. They never took me off of the surgery list. Considering that I had worked the day I got hurt and got hurt at a Club picnic just after I got there, I was going on four days with nothing to eat. If it was somebody who couldn't communicate who know what would have happened.

[Adans smith]

Well said.

[Chumby]

There are collectivists in the US that are starving to implement an NHS style system here.

[AT]

In England, a National Health Service hospital

aka a death camp.

[diver64]

Probably needed some of his organs like they are doing up in Canada. I'm glad the hospital is reviewing this and is committed to more staff training.

[mad.casual]

We board the dogs or ask people to feed animals, we set out the amount of food they'd need and expect it to be consumed when we get back and, again, this guy sounds way more intelligent and functional. Most of the people and places involved will send you daily updates and answer questions. To my knowledge, this is more or less consistent across a dozen or so families largely in the Midwest but scattered across the country.

I'm only ~30% sure this isn't some sort of wink-wink, nudge-nudge MAID thing going on.

But it's Britain and as long as nobody posts any insulting memes about trannies or immigrants, nobody has to go to jail.

[Kemuel]

A national health system inevitably represents the interests of the state above the patient. In this perverse arrangement, euthanasia of those who would be a burden on the state is incentivized. I would not be surprised if this was intentional.

[mad.casual]

During that time, his family believed he was being fed in hospital, even as Poulton told his sister, "I don't want to die."

Without more information, I'm having trouble laying all the blame on the NIH here. I don't know how old the sister is, but it sounds like she wasn't visiting him alone, and 9 days is an awful long time to watch something or someone die. Especially for someone who can verbally convey that they're starving.

Again, not to completely exculpate the NIH here but someone at some point someone should've made a trip to the vending machines or the cafeteria and back and told anyone trying to stop them that he's got a broken hip, not a crushed windpipe, and that they can shove their "nil by mouth" chart up their own ass.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Did Adrian criticize Muslims or trannies? You know, capital offenses in Blighty.

[Azathoth!!]

So, they were visiting him and he never once said 'I'm hungry'?

Bullshit.

This was MAID-- well, maybe Medically Urgent Removal and Destruction of Evidenciary Records.

[Mickey Rat]

We have seen before that the NHS owns the subjects of the United Kingdom and can decide their fate based on its own values of constitutes a life worth living.

[Eeyore]

Sometimes I think any British with any tenacity already left 200 years ago. What was left is too domesticated to survive.

[Chumby]

Like fainting goats facing off with a wolf pack. The wolves won’t stop when the goats fall over.

[Eeyore]

Fainting does make the castration easier to endure.