NHS accused over deaths of disabled patients

The NHS is accused of causing the unnecessary suffering or deaths of at least 74 patients with a learning disability because of poor care that reveals enduring "institutional discrimination" among doctors and nurses.

The 74 vulnerable patients' deaths over the past decade were either caused or complicated by mistakes in hospitals and decisions by staff who failed to treat them properly and displayed ignorance or indifference to their plight, according to the charity Mencap and families of some of those who died.

Inquiries by Mencap into the deaths raise searching questions for the NHS, which has been criticised in a series of recent reports for providing poor care, especially to older patients. The parliamentary and health service ombudsman, Ann Abraham, has already ruled that four of the cases highlighted were avoidable deaths and found serious failings in eight others. Inquest verdicts also confirm failings occurred in several cases.

"These cases are a damning indictment of NHS care for people with a learning disability," said David Congdon, Mencap's head of campaigns and policy. "They confirm that too many parts of the health service still do not understand how to treat people with a learning disability and they are an appalling catalogue of neglect and indignity. As a result of institutional discrimination in the NHS, people with a learning disability are dying when their lives could be saved."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jan/02/nhs-accused-disabled-patient-deaths