Neglected Patient Calls Police for Water, Dies in UK

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.