In theory, America boasts some of the best healthcare facilities on the planet. Yet, as anyone who pays some or all of their own insurance premiums will tell you, that supposed best-in-class experience comes at a pretty penny.
What’s more, the reality of treatment in a hospital in America can often feel very different to what is projected in the glossy brochures of the healthcare providers.
Certainly, an underwhelming experience in a Florida facility appears to have been the trigger for one elderly man’s extreme act of rebellion against the system, according to a report in the Miami Herald.
While being treated in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, John King felt like he was being ignored by nurses whom he was attempting to summon for assistance. So, naturally, he set his hospital bed on fire in an attempt to get the nurses’ attention, according to court documents.
The New Smyrna Beach Police Department said King, 75, admitted to setting a plastic bag on fire last Saturday because he felt the staff at the AdventHealth-run hospital were ignoring his request to bring him his clothes and he believed that the fire would get their attention.
King’s roommate in the hospital explained to officials that he had seen King light a small object on fire, but convinced him to put out the flame, according to the police report. But when the other patient climbed back into his own bed behind a curtain, he saw King relight the fire and try to fan the flames. At that point, the unfortunate roommate used the emergency button to notify staff.
“The (expletive) in here lit his bed on fire. I can’t breathe. The smoke is in the room,” the roommate told the nurses, according to court documents.
Although his effort may have been misguided, King did succeed in summoning the attention he craved.
On hearing the yelling of the roommate, a nurse rushed into the room and put out the flames with a fire extinguisher. At that point, according to the court affidavit, she noticed King making his way to the elevator in an attempt to escape. Staff stopped him and were able to secure him until fire officials arrived.
King gave authorities the silver and red Bic lighter he used to start the fire, records show. He was arrested on a felony charge of arson.
According to the hospital’s administrator, the bed was damaged beyond repair and a new one has to be ordered to replace it, which costs $4,000.
 | NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FLORIDA |
|---|---|
| Location: | On Florida’s Atlantic coast, 112 miles south of Jacksonville, and 190 miles north of Palm Beach |
| Population: | 27,229 |
| Median Household Income: | $49,625 |
| Quirky Fact: | The settlement was founded by a Scottish physician, Dr. Andrew Turnbull. He had married the daughter of a merchant from the Greek city of Smyrna (modern-day İzmir in Turkey) and named the settlement in honor of his wife’s birthplace and the homeland of the hundreds of laborers he recruited to work his plantation who were Greek |