Hospital workers called patient 'alkie'

Published: May 15, 2008 at 3:47 PM

MIDDLESBROUGH, England, May 15 (UPI) -- A British woman is demanding the firings of two hospital staff members after her answering machine recorded them describing her as a black-toothed alcoholic.

Sharon Roberts, 19, said an operator at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, England, failed to disconnect the phone call after leaving her a message about rescheduling an appointment, The Times of London reported Thursday.

Roberts said her answering machine then recorded the operator gossiping about her with a colleague.

"That girl didn't think she had a problem," the operator said. "One unit -- that's a half of lager, half a beer, or one of them small glasses of wine or a shot of spirit. She drinks 100 a week."

Roberts said the second staff member expressed surprise that she has a boyfriend, and the operator replied: "Come on, who else is going to have her? Bless her. She smells, she had black teeth. She's a typical either druggie or alkie (alcoholic) because she's dead skinny."

Roberts said she has never been an alcoholic or drug addict.

"I had anorexia when I was younger and that's why I'm so thin. I want compensation and I want them sacked," she said.

© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Order reprints



Additional News Stories
BA and Iberia move close to a deal (23 min)
Leukemia med may also fight ovarian cancer (23 min)
Eye response may reveal autism (24 min)
Neurological disease drug target found? (30 min)
Oil supplies rise in week (39 min)
CDC: Highest rate of smoking in W. Va. (47 min)
Climate change, California droughts linked (52 min)
fark
Woman wins $1M McDonalds Monopoly prize. Plans to use winnings on new house, car, angioplasty
You went full North by Northwest, dude. Never go full North by Northwest
Not news: ex-soldier finds a gun in his garden - Still not news: man hands gun into police - Fark:...
Bow wow wow, yippie yo, yippie yeah, Bow wow yippie yo yippie yeah (c)
Welcome to the internet, where men are men, women are men, and that 14 year old girl you're propositioning...
Using only a cell phone and a pelican, man turns his $2 Million Bugatti into a submarine