UK hospital staff heartlessly left man to die in hallway, ten hours later dragged his corpse away

Friday, June 10, 2011 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: hospital, fatalities, health news

(NaturalNews) In a shocking display of utter disregard for their fellow man, staff at Edale House in Manchester, England, which is part of the Manchester Health and Social Care Trust (MHSCT), denied entry to drunk and intoxicated 41-year-old Peter Thompson, whom they left to die on a hallway floor for ten hours before eventually dragging his body away like a "dead animal." Video footage of the event shows a lifeless Thompson lying in a hospital corridor as nurses repeatedly step over him, and a senior nurse later had the audacity to claim that such actions were "the appropriate method of handling the situation."

You can watch that footage here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtSH69yLk0g

Thompson had a lengthy history of alcohol and drug abuse, and the night he voluntarily tried to gain admission to the ward for care, he refused to hand over a bottle of vodka before passing out on the floor. However, nurses and hospital staff made no attempt to show any compassion for the man once he was passed out, which would have been as simple as taking the bottle away from him, and moving him into a hospital bed where he could have been monitored.

"It was just inhumane what they did and I just cannot understand how in this day and age this can be allowed to happen," said Peter's father Alan Thompson, 71, to the UK's Daily Mail. "Seeing your own flesh and blood being dragged across the floor like a dead animal is heartbreaking." Both Alan and his wife Rene added that the events surrounding their son's death exhibited "disgusting neglect."

Worse, a coroner report later revealed that Thompson's death was "wholly preventable," had nurses made even simple and basic efforts to care for him. The pathologist report explained that Thompson died from fatal alcohol poisoning, which was compounded by anti-psychotic drugs. Upon review, the inquest jury found that Thompson died of "death by misadventure contributed to by neglect."

According to the Daily Mail, Manchester coroner Nigel Meadows plans to write both MHSCT and the UK Nursing and Midwifery Council to push for an investigation into the three nurses who carelessly and needlessly allowed Thompson to die. Thompson's parents have also received an unknown amount of monetary compensation for the incident, but a representative of the family stated that "no amount of money can ever compensate them for their loss."

Sources for this story include:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2000...