She [his doctor] called for a physician assistant and told the medical office to send a nurse with intravenous fluids and to arrange for a Peace Corps driver to take Mr. Castle to a hospital. But the Peace Corps vehicle was in use by the agency’s country director, an internal inquiry later found, and none of the medical staff members “felt empowered enough” to ask her to give it up “even during an emergency.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/26/world/asia/peace-corps-death-china-medical-missteps.html
Obviously there were a lot of factors which led to Nick's death, but the whole episode reminds me of two things:
- The arrogance and sense of entitlement of the senior people who work for the US government (e.g., the agency's country director), and
- The shoddy treatment given to our military veterans.
And we're letting such people overhaul and run (or ruin?) our entire health care system?
We are headed for a great fall. Perhaps it's what we deserve, but it should have been preventable. How are we going to explain this to our grandchildren?
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