"Pain Is Not Uncommon..."

Yet another reason to avoid socialized medicine.

From Roto-Reuters:

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - A woman receiving treatment for diabetes at a state-run hospital in eastern India lost one of her eyes after ants nibbled away at it, officials said on Tuesday.

The patient recovering from a post-surgery infection shrieked for help as the ants attacked her on Sunday night, but nurses told her it was normal to feel pain from the infection.

On Monday, the patient's family saw a gaping hole with swarming ants in it when they lifted the bandage on her left eye.

Authorities of the Sambhunath Hospital in Kolkata said they were probing the incident.

"It's not uncommon for ants to attack diabetic patients. We have set up a committee to investigate the unfortunate incident," hospital superintendent A. Adhikary said.

Scampering rats and stray cats and dogs sharing bed space with patients are not uncommon sights at India's overcrowded state-run hospitals that are used by millions of poor and middle-class people.

After being married to a nurse for 20-odd years, I know they become somewhat jaded. They deal with patients who whine at the slightest thing. Not all patients are that way, but they are there. However, a good nurse will still investigate.

There is already a shortage of health care professionals coutry wide. And since the government wouldn't make any money on hospitals in this sort of situation, you can damn well expect the quality of employees as well as the quality of care to drop sharply were the government to ever take it over.