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U.K. Advocacy Group Details Horrific Pattern of Neglect of Patients with Disabilities

By Kathleen Gilbert

LONDON, January 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - When 43-year-old Martin Ryan suffered a stroke that left him unable to swallow, a "communication breakdown" meant that the staff at Kingston hospital never inserted a feeding tube.  Doctors say they did not realize that nurses had not provided for Ryan - who died in agony after 26 days without food - until it was too late.

The advocacy group Mencap says that Ryan, a Down syndrome sufferer, fell victim to the widespread mistreatment of disabled patients by the U.K.'s National Health Service (NHS).  Ryan's case is one of a number of horror stories uncovered by Mencap in a report entitled "Death by Indifference." 

The report, part of an ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the unfair treatment of learning-disabled patients, described six cases where patients suffered or died apparently due to disability discrimination.

Mark Cannon, 30, died from complications of a broken thigh bone after over two months of severe pain. Although he was expressing severe pain, he and his family were reportedly routinely ignored. At one point Cannon spent three days in agony before being able to see a pain team.  Cannon had severe learning difficulties and could speak very little.

In another case, 26-year-old Emma Kemp was sent home from the hospital despite being in great pain because her behavior was considered too difficult to manage; her severe learning disability made it difficult for her to communicate her distress.   When it was discovered that Emma had cancer and a 50/50 chance of survival with treatment, doctors refused to treat her, despite being begged by her mother, who eventually procured a High court order forcing them to treat Emma.  However, by the time the order came through, the cancer was too far progressed, and Emma died a month later.

An inquiry into the report, chaired by Sir Jonathan Michael, a former chief executive of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, has vindicated Mencap's claims.  Michael said that the cases outlined in the publication were "by no means isolated," and called for "essential changes" in the NHS.  A wider inquiry by the Government was also issued in response to the Mencap report.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is expected to issue a verdict later this month on the accusations against NHS.

"These people were completely and unacceptably failed by the treatment they received," a Mencap spokesman told the Telegraph.  "It was a catalogue of disasters and poor treatment of very vulnerable people who deserved so much more.

"We are hoping that the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman gets justice for the families of these patients.  It would be irrational and perverse to say anything other than that there were grotesque failures for these people."

Mark Goldring, Mencap's chief executive, said: "Our report exposed the horrific deaths of six people with a learning disability who died unnecessarily in NHS care.

"We have fought and will continue our fight for justice for their families.  The reports have a duty to challenge complacency, where it has been shown to exist within the health service, when treating people with a learning disability and must hold individuals to account for their actions."

Conservative bioethicist Wesley Smith speculated that there is likely a relationship between the fact that a large number of disabled children are killed in the womb for eugenic reasons, and the abuses documented in the Mencap report.

“Given the indifference to the high eugenic abortion rate, the respect in the media for people like Peter Singer who asserts it is okay for parents to kill babies born with Down,” said Smith “there is a (perhaps unconscious) mindset afoot that people like Martin [one of the disabled people in the Mencap report] should never be born.”

To visit Mencap's website, go to: http://www.mencap.org.uk

To view the report "Healthcare for All," go to: http://www.iahpld.org.uk/

To download Mencap's report "Death by Indifference," go to: http://www.mencap.org.uk/document.asp?id=284

To listen to a tribute to Emma, go to: http://www.mencap.org.uk/MediaFiles/tribute_to_emma.mp3

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