Patient Advocates in UK Expose Horrors of Government Health System

Meredith Jessup | August 27, 2009 1:25 PM

President Obama proposes to add 46 million new individuals to the nation's health care rolls, all while reducing costs and improving care, but without any more doctors or nurses to tend to the swell of patients. One need not speculate what the dramatic effect might be--the UK's

Telegraph tells it how it is.

A new report by the UK's Patients Association exposes the "cruel and neglectful" care of one million patients within the country's national health system:

In the last six years, the Patients Association claims hundreds of thousands have suffered from poor standards of nursing, often with 'neglectful, demeaning, painful and sometimes downright cruel' treatment.

The charity has disclosed a horrifying catalogue of elderly people left in pain, in soiled bed clothes, denied adequate food and drink, and suffering from repeatedly cancelled operations, missed diagnoses and dismissive staff.

The Patients Association also uncovered some instances of hundreds of patients dying because of "failings in urgent care."

Check it out: I especially recommend reading the comments from UK residents who experience the government system every day.