A neglected patient in the UK was so thirsty, he called the police to get water—who were turned away by the hospital. The man died. From the Daily Mail story:
A desperate hospital patient who died of thirst after he was denied vital medication rang police and begged them to bring him a drink, an inquest heard today. Kane Gorny, 22, needed drugs to regulate his hormone levels after successfully beating brain cancer months earlier. But during a further hospital stay nurses forgot to give him his medication and he became so delirious he was forced to call 999 to ask for help. Officers raced to St George’s Hospital in Tooting, south London, but were turned away by staff who insisted Mr Gorny was fine, Westminster Coroner’s Court heard. He had been admitted in May 2009 to undergo hip replacement surgery after his bones were weakened as a side-effect of taking prescribed steroids. Giving evidence his mother, Rita Cronin, said she spent hours trying to convince staff he needed urgent attention but was repeatedly told he was alright.
We’ve seen the same travesty in UK nursing homes and hospitals, where doctors have had to prescribe drinking water to prevent elderly patients from dying of thirst. Something is terribly amiss.
