Marathon Pundit: Government health care warning from Scotland

While I'm well aware that doctors in the United States make grievous mistakes, sometimes fatal ones, the claims from the family of a deceased mother that a Scottish government health-care doctor was "abrupt" and "rude" recalls unpleasant encounters that I've had civil servants here.

From the Scottish Daily Record:

A mum suffering chest pains died in front of her young son hours after being sent home from hospital and told to take painkillers.

Debra Beavers, 39, phoned NHS (National Health Service) 24 twice in two days before getting a hospital appointment. But a doctor gave what her family described as a cursory examination lasting 11 minutes, before advising her to buy over-the-counter medicine Ibuprofen.

Family members claim the medic was abrupt and rude - and when Debra clutched her chest, he told her: "Your heart is on the other side."

Seven hours later, the mum-of-two collapsed and died from a heart attack in front of her 13-year-old boy.