N.I.C.E. the N.H.S. and Me.

If you are unfortunate enough to experience an emergency and taken to a rogue hospital, and you smoke, drink, are overweight or have just had the bad luck of being taken to the wrong hospital, you have my sympathy. A young man who was a patient at Stafford Hospital had to phone the police to go and give him a drink of water because he was too ill to get one himself and the staff had refused to give him any. He died later that day from dehydration. Without consulting his parents, the doctors had decided to withdraw treatment, food and water to hasten his death, as they believed he was on his way out anyway and time should not be wasted on him. This is fact.

I don't believe this is the full story - please research this case very thoroughly and edit your claim.

---------- Post added 20-08-2014 at 10:31 ----------

So you say you had a pulseless VF arrest. Was CPR performed? What caused the arrest, was it an infarct? How long were you kept in hospital in Newark post ROSC?

 

You say you spent your lifesavings on a ICD based on the information in a fax from SJA?

 

And finally, what has this got to do with NICE?

Agreed.

No Consultant Cardiologist would fit an AICD device, privately or otherwise, without evidence it was required. It was your choice to have the device fitted privately - the NHS regularly funds this procedure for those who need an AICD. It is a procedure carried out regularly at NGH.

Information from SJA would not fit into that that category - no disrespect to SJA intended.

If you are unfortunate enough to experience an emergency and taken to a rogue hospital, and you smoke, drink, are overweight or have just had the bad luck of being taken to the wrong hospital, you have my sympathy. A young man who was a patient at Stafford Hospital had to phone the police to go and give him a drink of water because he was too ill to get one himself and the staff had refused to give him any. He died later that day from dehydration. Without consulting his parents, the doctors had decided to withdraw treatment, food and water to hasten his death, as they believed he was on his way out anyway and time should not be wasted on him. This is fact.

 

I don't believe this is the full story - please research this case very thoroughly and edit your claim.

 

---------- Post added 20-08-2014 at 10:31 ----------

 

 

Agreed.

No Consultant Cardiologist would fit an AICD device, privately or otherwise, without evidence it was required. It was your choice to have the device fitted privately - the NHS regularly funds this procedure for those who need an AICD.

Information from SJA would not fit into that that category - no disrespect to SJA intended.

The above story is sort of accurate. I think it was a London hospital and dates back to 2008. There's a thread on here somewhere about it - the inquiry made the papers.

The above story is sort of accurate. I think it was a London hospital and dates back to 2008. There's a thread on here somewhere about it - the inquiry made the papers.

I know about the case - however the OP has elaborated and made crucial omissions which sensationalises the claim - bit of a trend going on here I think .

Interesting!

We were on holiday in Sheffield, from our home on Australia's lovely Sunshine Coast.

My wife developed pneumonia.

We are both elderly (75+) and admit to obesity, though non-smokers.

The Northern General Hospital saw her promptly, admitted her, and treated her with skill (we both have medical degrees from Sheffield, so we could tell it was well done) and great kindness.

The issue of our being 10,000 miles from home was not raised.

Later, we had a letter asking us to confirm the admission, as apparently Australian Medicare makes some sort of financial adjustment to NHS.

But our being away from home was never brought up to us, and follow-up letter was sent to our Australian GP

The above story is sort of accurate. I think it was a London hospital and dates back to 2008. There's a thread on here somewhere about it - the inquiry made the papers.

link to an article here-

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1255858/Neglected-lazy-nurses-Kane-Gorny-22-dying-thirst-rang-police-beg-water.html

in 2001, when I had a heart attack. I was refused treatment on the grounds that a) I was not resident in the area where I collapsed and taken into hospital, and then b) when back in my home area, I was told that I must return to where I collapsed and take issue with the N.H.S. there.

In 2001 I was discharged from Newark Hospital with a bottle of pills and a letter for my G.P.

So you were not refused treatment as you claimed, they saved your life and then refereed you on for further treatment and assessment???

The 'National Institute for Clinical Excellence' is the Quango which decides which drugs or treatment can be authorised for use by the N.H.S. and which can not for one reason or another. The main reason these days is to do with the cost of keeping us alive, so 'N.I.C.E.' plays at being God.

 

I have a personal gripe about arrogant people who can decide whether I live or pop off this mortal coil, as they did in 2001, when I had a heart attack. I was refused treatment on the grounds that a) I was not resident in the area where I collapsed and taken into hospital, and then b) when back in my home area, I was told that I must return to where I collapsed and take issue with the N.H.S. there.

 

It cost me my life savings to save my life, but here I am folks in 2014, alive and reasonably well. I became a private patient in an N.H.S. hospital with a private wing. However, I was the only paying patient in the wing, all the others being regarded as having more important lives than mine.

 

In 1995, I accidentally broke my arm whilst in Suffolk. I managed to drive to Norwich Hospital, which was the nearest one, and given the X Rays of the fracture. "What do I want these for ?," I asked, and was told by the doctor that I would have to take them to the nearest hospital to where I lived.

I told her that I lived 300 miles away, and asked how I would get there, and she said, "The same way you got here."

 

Two days later I presented myself at my local hospital and handed over the X. Rays. A doctor told me to return to Norwich because I was the responsibility of that hospital. The fracture was never professionally treated and has become arthritic in recent years.

 

I could have saved my life savings in 2001 and had my arm repaired in 1995, if I had been a bit smarter than I am. I could have gabbled away in some makeshift foreign language and inferred that I was from overseas. I would have risked being charged with obtaining treatment by deception contrary to Sec. 15 of the Theft Act, 1968, but at least I would have received treatment.

 

Has anyone else suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous decisions such as these ?. If so, let us all benefit from them and then we can perhaps do something about it.

If this is true, and the whole story, you really ought to see your MP or go to the papers.

Nice does indeed work in mysterious ways and affects people / areas differently. It is far from perfect. I also think people tend not to believe stories like these until something similar happens to them.

---------- Post added 21-08-2014 at 13:41 ----------

You can now choose which hospital provides your treatment. As to what happened in the past to the OP, I don't particularly believe it happened as described.

 

jb

This might be what it says should happen, but is very different from what actually happens.

This might be what it says should happen, but is very different from what actually happens.

In my experience (n=2) it is exactly what does happen. If you've been denied the option of choice then did you report it to the relevant authorities?

jb

This might be what it says should happen, but is very different from what actually happens.

No, it isn't. The last few times I've had non emergency treatment I've chosen to be treat in Sheffield after having been given the choice of Sheffield, Doncaster or Rotherham.

If this is true, and the whole story, you really ought to see your MP or go to the papers.

 

Nice does indeed work in mysterious ways and affects people / areas differently. It is far from perfect. I also think people tend not to believe stories like these until something similar happens to them.

 

NICE may work in mysterious ways but it sets out national policy, the OP implicates NICE then goes on to complain about regional/local policies.

The rest of the story re: heart attack and privately paying for an ICD is frankly unbelievable.

The OP states he payed for an ICD to be fitted based on information from SJA. At the time of the alledged inicdent the device alone would cost £22,000 (source: http://www.cardiomyopathy.org/)

The OP states he had a heart attack but was only informed of this by a fax from SJA, I find it very hard to believe that a SJA events crew in 2001 had access to a 12 lead ECG and the ability to reliabley interpret that information. If an event was confirmed by bloods SJA would not be privvy to the results.

Also if the OP did have an infarct leading to a VF arrest surely the logical step would be to investigate and treat the cause of the infarct, not fit an ICD in the hope any further infarcts result in a shockable arrest rhythm.

My husband was given the choice of either Barnsley, Rotherham or Sheffield.

I think Mr Plod is a fantasist.

I also think people tend not to believe stories like these until something similar happens to them..

Extraordinary claims do require extraordinary proof you see... and this has a distinct lack of the latter....