Stroke patient, 75, died as she lay helpless in hospital bed *content warning - sexual assault MNHQ*

[FightingtheFoo]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9563237/Stroke-patient-75-died-sexually-assaulted-lay-helpless-hospital-bed.html

"A stroke patient 'died after being sexually assaulted' as she lay ill in a hospital bed, an inquest heard.
Valerie Kneale had been admitted to Blackpool Victoria Hospital following a stroke and had later broken her leg when falling from a chair.
The 75-year-old's condition deteriorated and she died four days later.

A male hospital worker was arrested on suspicion of murder, rape and sexual assault and has since been bailed pending further inquiries.
Opening the inquest, coroner for Blackpool and Fylde Alan Wilson said: 'Concerns had been raised about a potential injury around the genital area.
'This prompted a police investigation by Lancashire Constabulary.'

The autopsy revealed that although Mrs Kneale did have a significant stroke, the pathologist did not think it was the cause of death.
Mr Wilson said: 'She said that was due to an internal and external haemorrhage which was in turn due to a vaginal laceration or tear.'

The pathologists' report believed it was caused by a sexual assault after she was admitted to hospital.
Mrs Kneale died on November 16, 2018."

I am just full of rage. She was at her most vulnerable and was failed, yet again, by the system. We should be marching.

@UpTheJunktion

He was bailed ? A suspected dangerous murderous sexually violet pervert was set loose?

Women’s safety really is of no importance is it?

And we get vilified for holding a vigil after being told we are responsible for protecting ourselves from male violence.

It really is unbelievable. Out on bail ! After raping a frail and ill elderly woman and killing her. Her life worth so little .

I also don't understand why the thread title has been changed, the article itself says:

'A male hospital worker was arrested on suspicion of murder, rape and sexual assault'.

In the olden days when I started nursing men never worked on female wards. The only exception was psychiatric wards

I agree it should be single sex wards - how does that fit in with gender neutral and trans - massive can of worms.

It fits in because single sex is single sex, not single gender identity. So if you have a male patient, they should not be on the female ward. Male staff slightly different but maybe they should be accompanied when there are vulnerable girls and women.

@DaisiesandButtercups

Maybe male nurses and support workers shouldn’t be allowed to work on any women’s wards in hospitals. And yes we should have women only wards.

Prioritise safeguarding.

I agree. Sad as it is and I’m sure there are plenty of men who wouldn’t dream of doing something so horrific but their feelings need to come second to safeguarding.

@BoreOfWhabylon

In the olden days when I started nursing men never worked on female wards. The only exception was psychiatric wards

You had no male doctors at all?

I’m sorry but I find that hard to believe.

Horrifying:(

@Leafstamp

I also don't understand why the thread title has been changed, the article itself says:

'A male hospital worker was arrested on suspicion of murder, rape and sexual assault'.

Stroke patients frequently die as they "lay-helpless-in-hospital-bed" The specific critical details about Valerie Kneale's death in Blackpool Victoria Hospital are that she, 'died after being sexually assaulted' and, "A male hospital worker was arrested on suspicion of murder, rape and sexual assault and has since been bailed pending further inquiries."

@MNHQ could the thread title please be reviewed out of respect to Valerie Kneale and also as this incident would be of concern to many members and it is obscured by the current title.

I asked MNHQ similar R0 and got told:

'We received several reports that said the title was far too explicit, so we adjusted it a little. As usual, it's a balancing act between what different posters find acceptable.'

What was the original title?

@Gullible2021 Plenty of male doctors - who always had female chaperones - but all nursing and ancillary ward staff were female.

It would have been unthinkable for a man to provide personal care to a woman.

As usual, it's a balancing act between what different posters find acceptable.'

Not when it completely erases the facts of what happened. That's not "balance".

[quote BoreOfWhabylon]@Gullible2021 Plenty of male doctors - who always had female chaperones - but all nursing and ancillary ward staff were female.

It would have been unthinkable for a man to provide personal care to a woman.[/quote]
Thanks for clarifying that there were male staff on the wards but they were chaperoned.

I completely agree that men (and to clarify ALL biological males) should not be providing personal care to women and should be chaperoned. I’ve been shocked how lax things have got in these areas. As a teenager of about 15, I had an unchaperoned male member of staff in his early 20s perform a breast examination on me unchaperoned. I felt horrible. Sadly since then, I’ve had more experience of intimate examinations being performed by men with no women present.

During the pandemic, a new young male GP asked me to come in to be physically examined. It was absolutely necessary. However, given most GP appointments are currently being given over the phone, the building was empty apart from the receptionist on another floor. I was really shocked to discover that no one else would be present and obviously I was undressed, lying on a bed being examined by a strange male with the door shut. There was no protection for me, I was too far away for anyone to hear if I needed help and at the end of the day I could have accused him of anything if I was a complete psycho so it wasn’t ideal for him either. I was in that room alone with him for 25 minutes. No one came to check.

Now, thankfully nothing happened. But when we live in a world where other woman have been raped and assaulted and even murdered by doctors, medical staff and even police then why are things getting less strict than they used to be rather than more strict?

Why aren’t we safeguarding women and girls?

In my local authority we have male midwives. Apparently we should be fine with that as they are gay and “no threat” to us. And a biological male practice nurse who is trans. If we express wanting a female to do our smears we are accused of being transphobic. Usually by female reception staff.

It probably all boils down to money, of course. And we’ve learned over and over that women’s lives aren’t that important.

As usual, it's a balancing act between what different posters find acceptable.

What the hell? The truth of male violence is unacceptable?

@Ivebeeninlockdowntoolong

Stroke patient, 75, died after being raped as she lay helpless in hospital bed

Ugh! This is what is so wrong with how all these cases are reported. Look at this headline again. So who raped this poor woman? Not clear from the original headline, is it? How about instead the media started to report headlines according to the truth: -

Man rapes Stroke patient, 75, as she lay helpless in hospital bed who then died.

All too often, we know the perpetrators are men but the media are always coy about owning it - they imply that these things just happen from nowhere in particular. It makes me so cross.

@OvaHere

I think the original title was similar to the first sentence in this post by Ivebeen

Which, as you can see from Ivebeen's comments arguably had limitations already.

@OvaHere

What was the original title?

They deleted "after being raped" between "died" and "as"

Thanks for the explanations. I missed the original title.

@DaisiesandButtercups

Maybe male nurses and support workers shouldn’t be allowed to work on any women’s wards in hospitals. And yes we should have women only wards.

Prioritise safeguarding.

I couldn’t agree more, it’s well over due!

This question might not seem relevant now, but will this case be counted by the ONS or do they still impose an arbitrary upper age limit on rape statistics?

This poor woman - 2 more women murdered in the past week (I’m sure the number is higher than that). Girl falling under train as pack of feral males harass passers by...

I am getting beyond anger now.

This happened 2.5 years ago? What's happened since? Has he been charged?

I couldn’t agree more, it’s well over due!

Unfortunately we’re moving further away from it being a possibility.

No words. Disgust, horror, outrage - none of them really cuts it. Unbearable to contemplate this poor woman's pain and distress.

I want to run away and live in an all-female community.

@Nimora

As usual, it's a balancing act between what different posters find acceptable.

What the hell? The truth of male violence is unacceptable?

In other words some lots of women would like to pretend things like this don’t happen. Then they can carry on their happy lives and fuck the victims, because they’d rather they just shut up about it. They don’t want to have to think about it, and they certainly don’t want any inconvenience to their lives, even if it would make things safer for other women and girls. Yes I am bitter, and getting more pissed off every time I read something like this

@Lettera

No words. Disgust, horror, outrage - none of them really cuts it. Unbearable to contemplate this poor woman's pain and distress.

I want to run away and live in an all-female community.

Take me with you please.