Like Exhibits in a Zoo: Investigation into the Association of Jimmy Savile with Stoke Mandeville Hospital

It seems entertainer Jimmy Savile was one of the most prolific abusers the United Kingdom has ever had the misfortune to know. I say "it seems" because he unfortunately passed away before he could be bought to justice. However, the evidence we now have based on the statements of those he abused seems pretty overwhelming. To those readers who wish to improve their background knowledge of this twisted and sick personality and the historical context which enabled him, I would heartily recommend the following recently published biography: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plain-Sight-Life-Jimmy-Savile/dp/1782067434/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425028465&sr=1-1&keywords=jimmy+saville

Though not scatological in any of its descriptions, the book does not pull any punches when it comes to exposing the details and the social, economic, historical and political circumstances in which his abusive activity took place.

I write this because yesterday saw the publication of the official report into Savile's activities at Stoke Mandeville hospital. It can be found at: http://www.speakingoutinvestigation.com/Downloads/Speaking%20out%20investigation/2902210_Investigation%20into%20the%20Association%20of%20Jimmy%20Savile%20with%20Stoke%20Mandeville%20Hospital.pdf

From the report it would seem that the British invited evil into the place where we tend to our most vulnerable and allowed it to run rampant there... All because we decided we did not wish to properly finance these services collectively and instead rely on the 'charity' of private individuals.

The words of 30 year-old victim 51 are particularly relevant:

Victim 51 recalls not wanting to rock the boat as she knew being at Stoke Mandeville was a privilege and she was worried she would be asked to
leave if she said bad things about Savile. She recalls Stoke Mandeville being very different from other hospitals, for example, the sheets were canary yellow and the reception looked more like “somebody’s psychedelic house” everyone was aware how lucky they were to be treated there.
Victim 51 recalls that Savile would often take groups of VIPs around the ward and that the patients did not like this feeling that they were exhibits in a zoo.

So some patients in our public service health system were receiving better treatment than others and were made painfully aware of this. The price they had to pay was their dignity, because like those aristocrats whose idea of a good time was to drop in to the old asylum of Bethlehem to see the sick, the insane and the delusional cavorting in their chains, as so powerfully portrayed by Hogarth, the well-off and powerful today still derive that same vicarious enjoyment from contemplating the misery of those less fortunate than themselves. Savile of course, the master enabler, knew precisely how to pander to these degraded and degrading impulses.

Hogarth, A Rake's Progress, painting number 8.

But perhaps the most disturbing aspect to arise from this report is that in the course of the investigation three further abusers were detected, whose victims were the same vulnerable patients, were active within the hospital over the same period, one of whom was recently sent to prison for 11 years for abusing several children in his care. It is not yet known whether any of these doctors (yes, you read right, they were all, unlike Savile, medically qualified), had any links with Savile and what these might be.

This is abuse and corruption, this is what happens when charity takes the place of proper funding. We should learn from this, but I doubt we will. We should expect more of this as our health services are relentlessly privatised.