A man was found dead three days after being turned away by his GP and threatened with being taken off their books.
Raymond Scougall, aged 40, had wanted to see a doctor on December 23 as he was in a great deal of pain from a hernia he suffered as a result of a stabbing several years before.
But instead of being seen, he was turned away from the Glasgow surgery, and on St Stephen's Day he was found dead on his bedroom floor by his brother, Gary, reports the Daily Record.
The family were also sent a letter from his surgery after his death, warning that they would remove him from their records as there was "no reason" for him to have turned up.
Raymond and Gary had both been stabbed in an incident nine years ago, by a man who was later jailed. They both required surgery for their injuries.
While Gary’s was successful, his brother was so severely injured he went under the knife five times in an attempt to fix a serious hernia in his stomach.
Gary said: “By the time he died, Raymond’s hernia was the size of a baby’s head coming out his stomach.
“He continued to ask for help from his GP and for pain relief, but neither was given to him.”
"My mum took him to his NHS appointments when he needed to go to the hospital and for the surgery but they never gave him much help.
"They said his stomach wall couldn’t hold his intestines any more. The stomach wall couldn’t hold the pressure of his hernia.
“He has been in constant pain for years and it has been getting worse. He has been going in and out of his GP asking for pain relief but he wasn’t being given anything at all.
“He was in agony and it looked like the mesh was coming out his stomach. He had to clean out the hole in his stomach himself every day.
“On December 23, he went along with my mum to his GP because he was in so much pain.
"But the doctor told him, ‘There is no need for you to be here’ and said to my mum, ‘There is nothing wrong with him’.”
A post-mortem held two days ago concluded Raymond’s death was related to his hernia.
His mum, Christina, said: “The post-mortem said it was caused by a loss of blood after his hernia burst through his stomach wall.”
The letter from Midlock Medical Centre in Govan, Glasgow , was dated Christmas Eve and read: “You attended our surgery on December 23.
"There was no reason for your attendance and when asked to leave you swore and were offensive to our office manager.
"Repetition of this behaviour will result in your removal from our list.”
Gary added: “He was treated so badly it wouldn’t have been surprising. He was clearly really suffering but no-one wanted to know.
“I don’t want another family to be treated the way Raymond was treated.”
A spokeswoman for the Midlock said: “We are not going to comment on any of that information.”
