Gov't Health Care: Lack of Water Forces Patients to Drink From Vases at UK Hospital

Thirsty patients at a British hospital were so desperate for care and especially water that they had to drink from flower vases, family members claim.

Julie Bailey, one such family member whose mother Bella died at the hospital in question, said patients were left "screaming" out in pain on chaotic and under-staffed wards at Stafford Hospital. When she approached the hospital about the matter, she said it told her it could not leave water out overnight due to "health and safety."

Bailey told her story to a panel looking into the situation, the Daily Mail reports.

But lack of water isn't Bailey's only concern. She said her mother once collapsed after no staff were available to reconnect her disconnected oxygen supply.

According to the Daily Mail, Baily is just one of many who are worried about the government-run hospital. The paper reports that "it has been claimed that hundreds of patients died at the hospital, run by Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, as a result of sub-standard treatment."

That "sub-standard" treatment includes accusations of putting "cost-cutting ahead of patient welfare."

Baily set up an organization, Cure the NHS, to draw attention to the facility and government's failing national health system (NHS).

"The launch of the campaign," the website says, "brought in many similar stories to ours. Their loved ones had been neglected or abused on those wards."

Donald Berwick, director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has claimed a love affair with Britain's NHS and it's government-run program. His critics say his "love" and approach will eventually lead to the cost-cutting dilemma patients such as Baily's mother have experienced first-hand.