Friday 13 July 2012

Is It The Procedure At Fault, Or The People?

Kane Gorny, 22, phoned police from his bed because he was so thirsty, but nurses and doctors ignored his requests for water and he died the following day.
In a devastating verdict, deputy coroner Shirley Radcliffe said there had been a collective failing by staff at St George’s Hospital, Tooting, south London, who all refused to take responsibility for their roles.
She added that the ‘target-driven’ culture in the NHS and the European Working Hours Directive, which limits the number of hours medical staff can work, had played a part in his death.
Is that the case? Because I really don't see how someone with the normal compassion and desire to help that you would expect to see in medical staff could hide behind directives and guidelines while someone suffered and died right in front of their e...

Oh:
A husband was forced to give his dying wife CPR because a lone paramedic sent to the scene could not manage on her own, it was claimed today.
Alfred Pearce, 65, and his daughter Tracey, 40, battled in vain to save Beryl Pearce after being asked by the first responder to help while she unpacked her equipment and called for back-up.
She apparently had tears in her eyes and kept saying she was 'sorry'. I don't know what about. It's unlikely she will be held truly responsinle:
Just one nurse has been demoted as a result of Mr Gorny’s death after a routine operation and the rest are still working in healthcare.
But ask yourself this; if the job you were doing would, as a result of crazy directives and hiring policies have a diametrically opposite result to the one it was supposed to have, would you continue doing it?

Because I don't think I could. Money isn't everything.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

That is so hard to hear. I'm pretty sure its illegal here to send a paramedic to a scene who cannot perform CPR at the scene. Even as a layperson, I don't think I could watch a person struggle if I could help in any way. Who could? The sad truth is that lives are only important to the persons who are in danger of dying and their loved ones. My life or your life is just a statistic on the business end of things.