Deliberate cruelty by nurses.

[rohrl]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/nhs/11721099/Disab...

DT article said:

A woman with severe learning disabilities has been awarded £65,000 in compensation from the NHS, after hospital staff cut up a doll that she treated as her own child.
Susan Hearsey may never recover from the cruelty she suffered when her beloved doll was damaged and disfigured in front of her after she was admitted to Walsall Manor Hospital, her lawyers say.

This is certainly not the first article I've read about nursing staff exhibiting pure callous cruelty towards a vulnerable patient.

What on earth possesses people who are supposed to be caring for someone to be so absolutely heartless and why on earth are they still working as nurses?

DT article said:

The hospital initially denied staff had damaged the doll and said its injuries were either accidental or inflicted by Ms Hearsey’s relatives.

Furthermore why is it so impossible for public bodies to admit that they've done wrong? Why always the insolent refusal to accept responsibility for their actions and those of their employees?

Edited by rohrl on Tuesday 7th July 12:53

[Axionknight]

An odd case, but an awful one - that's a pretty low thing to do to somebody who is clearly vulnerable.

Shameful.

[supersingle]

They are well paid. They can suffer from compassion fatigue. Some are on a power trip. Some genuinely care, others are just cruel.

[rhinochopig]

I'm not defending the act, but...you need to consider what the long term effects are of working with a client group that can be agressive, demanding 24-7, physically violent, verbally abusive, and completely ungrateful.

The psychological phenomena underpinning such cruelty are well understood and documented and ANYONE can be driven to behaving in such a manner. And the NHS aren't always very good at supporting their staff.

Totally unacceptable, but without the correct support structure, not unusual.

[hornetrider]

Axionknight said:

Shameful.

Couldn't agree more. Despicable to prey upon the vulnerable in this way, they should be sacked imo, they're not fit for the job. I'm married to a nurse before anyone thinks I'm NHS bashing.

This type of thing including care home abuse absolutely disgusts me. These are individuals who need help, not abuse or ridicule.

[McTory]

[quote=rhinochopig]I'm not defending the act, but...you need to consider what the long term effects are of working with a client group that can be agressive, demanding 24-7, physically violent, verbally abusive, and completely ungrateful. quote]

MPs?

[telecat]

rhinochopig said:

I'm not defending the act, but...you need to consider what the long term effects are of working with a client group that can be agressive, demanding 24-7, physically violent, verbally abusive, and completely ungrateful.

The psychological phenomena underpinning such cruelty are well understood and documented and ANYONE can be driven to behaving in such a manner. And the NHS aren't always very good at supporting their staff.

Totally unacceptable, but without the correct support structure, not unusual.

Agree. There is a Downs lad in the local area who I have seen being exceedingly nasty to Supermarket workers who ask if he needs help with loading his bags. The same service anybody else gets before anybody asks. Puts into perspective some of the actions of these workers.

[Mastiff]

rhinochopig said:

I'm not defending the act, but...you need to consider what the long term effects are of working with a client group that can be agressive, demanding 24-7, physically violent, verbally abusive, and completely ungrateful.

The psychological phenomena underpinning such cruelty are well understood and documented and ANYONE can be driven to behaving in such a manner. And the NHS aren't always very good at supporting their staff.

Totally unacceptable, but without the correct support structure, not unusual.

Good post this.

[NormalWisdom]

rhinochopig said:

I'm not defending the act, but...you need to consider what the long term effects are of working with a client group that can be agressive, demanding 24-7, physically violent, verbally abusive, and completely ungrateful.

The psychological phenomena underpinning such cruelty are well understood and documented and ANYONE can be driven to behaving in such a manner. And the NHS aren't always very good at supporting their staff.

Totally unacceptable, but without the correct support structure, not unusual.

This really is right - My stepdaughter is a carer, she woks 12-hour shifts, it is exhausting and not a shift goes by when she hasn't been physically attacked by one of her clients but, she loves (almost) every minute. It is very, very tough work - It is also very difficult to get people to work in that industry as the pay is frighteningly poor. It still doesn't excuse the behaviour exhibited in the article.

[fatandwheezing]

rohrl said:

Furthermore why is it so impossible for public bodies to admit that they've done wrong? Why always the insolent refusal to accept responsibility for their actions and those of their employees?

It seems to be inbuilt into the system to clam up as soon as anything is investigated - wife deals with investigations, and the fear when there is something reported, no matter how minor or innocent the case makes getting the facts straight incredibly hard.

Also, the people who have to deal with it don't want to be another target for the constant criticism poured onto the NHS from the press and Jeremy Hunt.

[Liokault]

Wasn't there a trial in America where when something genuinely went wrong in a hospital, they just held up there hands and said, yes, we messed up, it wasn't deliberate, we will improve, do you really want to sue, if you feel that you really want to sue were not going to contest it.

Over all, it cost less money, lots of people in the end didn't Sue as they understand that stuff happens and where they did sue the saving on solicitors was greater than the few extra cases that they would have avoided.

[MrBrightSi]

I've never heard of the NHS nurses pulling this, yes serial killers aside.

The private sector for care has so many cases of this kind of terrible cruelty and abuse. I used to blame poor wages attracting terrible people. Have no idea how a nurse who is supposed to be educated, professional and above all part of a bigger system they fight for constantly.

[SPS]

Very sadly caring for certain categories of patients does seem to be becoming more problematic.
My mother in law died in January in a Staffordshire hospital and tbh I was stunned at how some of the nursing staff treated, or in our case ignored, her.
Each time we visited she was in a state of undress that was less than dignified shall I say. The bed was looking grubby and there was no attempt at giving her any privacy by maybe drawing the screening curtains so that not everyone passing could see her.
On discussing with the bay nurse she just said that they did not have time to keep checking on the patients every few minutes.
Now I have am a massive supporter of our Medical Clinicians and am on a couple of patients panels for a GP surgery and an NHS Trust.
But sadly my experience of the lack of care and compassion extended to a lady in her late eighties, who was soon to pass away, was a shock.
Now I don't want to even suggest that this is wide spread within the system (I really don't believe that it is) but it appears to me the the Humanity is bleeding out of the NHS.
Please don't take offense if you are a Health Professional as I do know what a wonderful job you people do for us and do it to the best of your ability.
It's just one small episode that I sadly experienced.
On the positive side - if it is a positive.
We got a call at 3am a couple of days later telling us that we should get to the Hospital ASAP.
We arrived 45 minutes later and were met by an extremely kind and thoughtful nurse who took us into a side room and gave us the news that my wife's mum had passed away 5 minutes previously. She asked us to wait while they tidied things up and then we went in to see her.

[4v6]

rohrl said:

What on earth possesses people who are supposed to be caring for someone to be so absolutely heartless and why on earth are they still working as nurses?

I dont often agree with rohrl but on this i do, utterly scummy thing to do.

[Johnnytheboy]

I've seen people who have some kind of mental disability, how they fixate on some little doll or blanket, and how much it means to them. My mother in her care home had a toy dog that she never let out of her sight.

Cutting it up in front of them is one of the most mentally cruel thing you could do to them.

I'm not an emotional person but this has me close to tears.

[Rovinghawk]

As cutting up a doll is hardly part of their job, why is the NHS paying the bill rather than the individuals?

[aka_kerrly]

With a younger brother who has required 24/7 care for all of his life (he was 30 last week) I have dealt with many carers from the NHS, from specialist facilities and charities and could write at length about how some of them fall well short of the expected standard of behavior for a carer and others go above an beyond any expectations you may have.

Those mentioned in the article who were involved with what I see as mental abuse of someone who they knew was particularly vulnerable are utterly disgusting!

There are certainly similarities between the lady in the article's behavior and my brother's, he makes characters and models out of cardboard which mean the world to him as he interacts with them in a way which I suppose is his substitute to normal human contact as he cannot construct nor understand elaborate sentences or conduct a conversation.

If my brother's carers tried to remove or destroy one of these cut outs he would react the same way as most of us would if I attacked you/your family/your possessions with an axe! It would be WW3 and he'd be angry but it's far far too easy for a carer to sit there and say "no idea what caused that" as you only ever get their side of the story.

Makes me sick!

[don4l]

Rovinghawk said:

As cutting up a doll is hardly part of their job, why is the NHS paying the bill rather than the individuals?

I agree.

The individuals should pay.

The NHS should only pay if they were negligent.

Unfortunately, these days, if you don't forbid sadism, then the system will find you guilty.

I despair.

[s3fella]

What truly horrible people.