[HPforGrownups] Health care and St Mungos

[Wendy St John]

No: HPFGUIDX 68091

Ffred wrote:

"If you look at the history of health care in the UK, the WW equivalent
seems
to be round about where muggledom was before there was a universal health
care system (though later than the time when if you were ill, you went to
your local wizard or witch for a cure!)

At that time, hospitals were charitably run. They raised their money by
fundraising, donations, and so on, and the doctors gave their time for
nothing as a sideline to their private practices.

St Mungos seems to be the same (minus the doctors, who given the existence
of healers, don't seem to be necessary...) They receive donations (eg from
Lucius Malfoy and presumably other wealthy families), they raise funds by
collections (as at the Ministry) and that's how they keep going.

In our world, the system just wasn't sustainable in the long run, and that
was part of the reason for introducing the National Health Service. But
canon (which is not surprisingly coy about public finance in general!) is
silent about whether St Mungos is comfortably off or having to run very hard
just to keep still"

Now me (Wendy):

Interesting comments, Ffred - and wouldn't it be interesting to know just
how St. Mungo's is really run? This ties in for me with the question of
whether or not the Longbottoms are being actively prevented from recovery
by St. Mungo's staff. If the hospital is, as you put it, running very hard
just to keep still, then it becomes much easier to imagine someone
accepting bribes from Lucius Malfoy (or elsewhere) to make sure the
Longbottoms remain permanently insane. Whether it's a matter of the
corruption at the higest levels of the hospital, or simply an individual
healer or two accepting a pay-off, if St. Mungo's *isn't* financially fit,
this scenario seems just that much more likely. To me, anyway. 

Cheers!

Wendy