UK hospital...how is this possible?

[hollyhox]

I just saw this article on Drudge Report. Still don't understand how it's even possible...

Neglected by 'lazy' nurses, man, 22, dying of thirst rang the police to beg for water

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1255858/Neglected-lazy-nurses-Kane-Gorny-22-dying-thirst-rang-police-beg-water.html#ixzz0hcPrWh3Q

Neglected by 'lazy' nurses, man, 22, dying of thirst rang the police to beg for water

By Emily Andrews

Last updated at 2:19 PM on 06th March 2010

A man of 22 died in agony of dehydration after three days in a leading teaching hospital.

Kane Gorny was so desperate for a drink that he rang police to beg for their help.

They arrived on the ward only to be told by doctors that everything was under control.

The next day his mother Rita Cronin found him delirious and he died within hours.

She said nurses had failed to give him vital drugs which controlled fluid levels in his body. 'He was totally dependent on the nurses to help him and they totally betrayed him.'

Kane, aged 11. He worked for Waitrose and had been a keen footballer and runner until he was diagnosed with a brain tumour the year before his death

A coroner has such grave concerns about the case that it has been referred to police.

Sources say they are investigating the possibility of a corporate manslaughter charge against St George's Hospital in Tooting, South London.

Mr Gorny, from Balham, worked for Waitrose and had been a keen footballer and runner until he was diagnosed with a brain tumour the year before his death.

The medication he took caused his bones to weaken and he was admitted to St George's for a hip replacement in May last year. The operation left him immobile and unable to get out of bed.

His 50-year-old mother says that he needed to take drugs three times a day to regulate his hormones. Doctors had told him that without the drugs he would die.

A young life snatched away: Kane with his mother Rita while being treated for a brain tumour

Rita said nurses had failed to give her son vital drugs which controlled fluid levels in his body

Although he had stressed to staff how important his medication was, she said, no one gave him the drugs.

She said that two days after his hip operation, while Miss Cronin was at work, he became severely dehydrated but his requests for water were refused.

He became aggressive and nurses called in security guards to restrain him.

After they had left, he rang the police from his bed to demand their help.

Miss Cronin, who is divorced from her son's father Peter, said: 'The police told me he'd said, "Please help me. All I want is a drink and no one is helping me".

'By this time my son was confused due to his lack of medication and I think the nurses just ignored him because they thought he was just being badly behaved.

'They were lazy, careless and hadn't bothered to check his charts and see his medication was essential.'

That evening, Miss Cronin visited him. She said: 'I told Kane to behave himself because I thought he had been causing trouble - and I feel so bad about that now. I thought maybe he was having a bad reaction to the morphine he was on but in fact it was because he had not had his medication.'

The next morning she visited him before going to work. 'He was delirious and his mouth was open,' she said. 'I gave him a drink of Ribena.

'I told three nurses there was something wrong with my son and they said, "He's fine" and walked off. I started to cry and a locum doctor who was there told me not to worry.

'Eventually the ward doctor came round, took one look at Kane and started shouting for help.'

Miss Cronin was asked to leave her son's bedside. 'He died an hour later,' she said. 'I didn't even realise he was dying. I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye.'

The death certificate said Mr Gorny had died because of a 'water deficit' and 'hypernatraemia' - a medical term for dehydration.

His mother added: 'When I went back to the hospital I was told that all the nurses had been offered counselling as they were so traumatised, but nothing was offered to me.

'The whole thing is a disgrace. This hospital has a brilliant reputation and boasts of its excellent standards and safety record.

'But as soon as my son walked into that ward, his death warrant was signed. Of the 32 people who were involved in my son's care, every one made a mistake that ultimately led to his death, from the consultant to the care assistant.

'There has been an internal investigation but St George's never made it public and it was a whitewash-After his death the hospital never phoned me or wrote to me to apologise. How could this happen in the 21st century?'

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'Detectives from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command are investigating the death of Kane Gorny at St George's Hospital after this was referred to us by Westminster Coroner's Court.'

A spokesman for St George's Hospital said: 'We are extremely sorry about the death of Kane Gorny and understand the distress that this has caused to his family.

'A full investigation was carried out and new procedures introduced to ensure that such a case cannot happen in future.

'We have written to the family to explain the actions that have been taken and to answer their concerns about Mr Gorny's care. The family has also been invited to meet with trust staff to discuss the case in detail.'

The tragedy emerged a week after a report into hundreds of deaths at Stafford Hospital revealed the appalling quality of care given by many of the nurses.

This week a task force called on nurses to sign a public pledge that they will treat everyone with compassion and dignity.

[snoopy29]

Please do not think I am condoning poor practice and if there is any truth in the article then nurses at the very least need to lose their registration but can I give a small amount of balance. The UK is in the run up to a general election and the Daily Mail is a staunchly conservative paper that is writing a lot of articles aimed at discrediting our current Government. I noticed as with many Daily Mail article the paper does not give any balance it is taken simply on the words of the grieving mother. Both parties are using the NHS as a major vote collector.

My absolute sympathy is with this boys family.

[UKPedsRN]

It happens because too many wards in the UK are not correctly staffed, and good nurses end up so burnt out, too the extent that they are unable to attend to the basic needs of patients such as this.

It is impossible to be the only qualified nurse for 10 plus patients and give patients the care they deserve.

I have had similar experiences to this myself as a patient and for my family members, though not to this extent. My mother was close to death due to the lack of medical and nursing care recieved in a local hospital, and has suffered immesureably since with the after effects.

She has another hospitalization coming up, to hopefully rectify the harm caused, and I am afraid that I will be reduced to having to discuss the level of care I expect her to receive and what I will do if she does not recieve adequate care. It saddens me that I have to raise this issue on her admission, but I feel I have to set the boundaries with all of her care, since I had to become her caregiver due to the care she recieved ( did not revcieve)

It is a crying shame that more nurses are not standing up and shouting from the rooftops about the lack of care and levels of care they are reduced to giving. Instead, these nurses go off sick with depression, because the so called "Whistle blowing Policies" are not worth the paper they are written on. There are too many hospitals here in the UK where the blame game continues without abatement, because staff are afraid "to make a fuss", Because they are afraid for their jobs.

I feel soo soo sorry for this young man,his mother and the nursing staff involved in his care.

[oramar]

I suppose he has diabetes insipidus, many people with brain tumors and head injuries come down with it. They are so thirsty all the time. There are only treatments, no cures that I know of.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

I suppose he has diabetes insipidus, many people with brain tumors and head injuries come down with it. They are so thirsty all the time. There are only treatments, no cures that I know of.

that is what i would presume.....and he would have needed ddavp or what ever "modern" equivalant.....at regular intervales atc.

[mustlovepoodles, RN]

Wow, just...wow This is a plea for family members to stay with a patient every moment they are hospitalized. I can't imagine this mother's pain. But for this very reason I never leave a family member alone in the hospital. Too many things can go wrong. Nurses get busy, doctors forget, patients can't always fend for themselves in the hospital environment. I've been on the receiving end of some mis-informed nursing and frankly dangerous practices. I was so doped on morphine I couldn't advocate for myself. Fortunately my DH was able to intervene before they killed me outright. We learned a great lesson from that. Somebody needs to be the eyes and ears of your loved one at all times.