A man turned away by his GP and told there was nothing wrong with him was found dead three days later.
On December 23, Raymond Scougall attended his GP surgery and requested to see a doctor as he was experiencing severe pain from a hernia which stemmed from a knife attack almost a decade ago.
However, instead of seeing to Raymond's concerns, the GP turned him and three days later on Boxing Day he was found dead on his bedroom floor by his brother.
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Nine years prior to his death, Raymond and his brother Gary, 41, were both stabbed during a confrontation for which their attacker was jailed for 11 years. Gary said since then, his brother had been suffering from a severe hernia which required several operations.
After enduring five procedures, the hospital said there was nothing more they could do for him.
Gary told the Daily Record: “[Raymond] 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.
Gary said Raymond visited Midlock Medical Centre in Glasgow on December 23 with his mum due to experiencing a significant amount of pain, however was allegedly told there was 'no need' for him to be there.
Gary said on Christmas Day Raymond remained in his bedroom for the majority of the day, something he would often do.
The 41-year-old added: “He used to go in there and sit for hours on his computer.
“But the next morning I never heard a sound coming from his room. His door was jammed so I had to force it open to get into the room.
“When I went in I saw him on the floor and there was blood over his stomach area. He was bleeding from his wound and mesh was coming out.”
After turning him over, Gary was horrified to discover that his brother was dead.
Arriving shortly after his death, the family received a letter sent from Raymond's GP practise warning that they would remove him from their patient list following his attendance at the surgery earlier that week.
It reiterated their point that “there was no reason for your attendance” on December 23.
A post-mortem revealed that Raymond’s death was related to his hernia.
Raymond's mum, Christina, told the Daily Record : “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, which was dated Christmas Eve, 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.”
Responding to the claims of 'offensive' behaviour shown by Raymond, Gary said it "wouldn't have been surprising" due to how "badly" his brother was treated.
He added: "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.
"All we want is for the medical practice not to treat anyone else the way they treated Raymond.”
Gary said the family is "looking for answers".
He claimed: "The doctors at the surgery are refusing to see my mum or talk to her about it."
A spokeswoman for the Midlock said: “We are not going to comment on any of that information.”
