Subject: St. Mungo's not safe?

[honeycakehorse03]

No: HPFGUIDX 57861

sabotage3p3 wrote:

>The next thing that the analysis made me think over was that he 
[Lucius Malfoy] does 
>a lot of contributions to St. Mungos.  At first I thought nothing 
of 
>it.  But I thought why would he contribute stuff if he is not 
>getting anything in return.  

I disagree. From the way Malfoy Sr. is presented in the books he 
tries to keep up a respectable appearance and wants to be seen as a 
valuable part of the wizarding society. This matches with what you 
said about him having a lot of influence on the board of 
schoolgovernors and the Minstry. 

However, in this position and especially with his financial 
possibilities it would only be the "right" thing to do to give money 
to charity or in this cas to St. Mungos. In that case the 
contributed money would be useful for giving him a better public 
opinion and he thereby is getting something in return: the approval 
he needs to become a big shot at the Ministry and leaving most 
people in delusion about his real allegiances.

>He seems a evil person and to me it 
>looks like he would probably only do stuff for someone if they do 
>stuff for him.

IMO that doesn't necessarily mean he is evil, only practical. I 
would think it to be a very Slytherin trait but not really evil. 
However, I agree that he would definitely always look for the 
benefits for doing something.

>But these things were minor things and it didnt seem a big thing 
to  
>until in Chapter 27 Page 522 in Goblet of Fire, it says:
>
>"Harry scanned the story about Crouch.  Phrases jumped out at him:  
>hasn't been seen in public since November...house appears 
>deserted...St. Mungo's Hosptital for Magical Maladies and Injuries 
>decline comment...Ministry refuses to confrim rumors of critical 
>illness."
>
>It says St. Mungo's decline comment.  Why would they decline a 
>comment?  The only reason they may have declined a comment was if 
>they were covering something up.  If he was sick or anything was 
>wrong with him, they could of at least said that, he had some kind 
>of problem and will not be in work for a little while.  

I supspect that for them to give a comment they would need the 
permission of the patient, medical records are confidential after 
all and the only one who *had* to be notified of his illness would 
be his employer which is the MoM. 

Now in the excerpt it say that the Ministry also doesn't say what's 
really going on which in my opinion can only be explained in two 
ways: a) They don't know and don't want to look like idiots or b) 
They don't want the general public to know because it's either 
dangerous or embarrassing. 

>Soo, to say the truth it looks like St. Mungo isn't safe but JK 
>Rowling could of done that to lead us to believe that it isn't safe 
>(you never know) and Lucius Malfoy contributed money so that his 
>family and him could get special services.  

Why would she want us to believe that it wouldn't be safe? And I'm 
fairly sure a Malfoy with all that money would get special treatment 
anyway, regardless od whether he gave money to St. Mungos or not. 

I don't know what it's like in Britain and certainly not in the 
wizarding world but here in Germany we have state health care that 
you still have to pay for but it's considerably less than private 
health care which allows you to get a single room in hospital and 
different kinds of alternate treatments etc. As a Malfoy I'd say 
only the best is good enough and he has the money to pay for it.

>But if they are dark wizards running it, they could do anything.  
>They could decline some wizard treatment or they could do the wrong 
>thing to a good wizard.  You never know!

I think there is a *big* difference between Malfoy (who is *one* 
Dark Wizard) giving money to St. Mungos and Dark Wizards *running* 
it. Of course, if it ever came to a Dark Wizard running it, there 
still must be instances, e.g. in the Ministry or press who would 
take notice of light wizards disappearing or dieing more than usual. 

Also, again I don't know about Britain or the wizarding world but a 
doctor here *has* to treat a patient, otherwise he can be sued for 
ommissed aid (not sure if that's the right term). And again that 
would come to the notice of the Ministry or the press pretty quickly.

Sabrina