Liberals on Twitter have taken to posting “I Love the NHS” banners on their user icons. The left, which not too long ago insisted that ObamaCare would be nothing like the NHS, has launched into a full-throated defense of the nightmarish system.

So perhaps they could explain how this story qualifies as “wonderful”. A British man collapsed one day as a result of a ruptured appendix. But here’s the thing: NHS doctors supposedly removed said appendix three weeks earlier. Apparently this is the “wonderful” and “quality” care we have to look forward to under a single-payer system.

After weeks of excruciating pain, Mark Wattson was understandably relieved to have his appendix taken out.

Doctors told him the operation was a success and he was sent home.

But only a month later the 35-year-old collapsed in agony and had to be taken back to Great Western Hospital in Swindon by ambulance.

To his shock, surgeons from the same team told him that not only was his appendix still inside him, but it had ruptured – a potentially fatal complication….

Mr Wattson told of the moment he realised there had been a serious mistake.

‘I was lying on a stretcher in terrible pain and a doctor came up to me and said that my appendix had burst,’ he said.

‘I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I told these people I had my appendix out just four weeks earlier but there it was on the scanner screen for all to see.

‘I thought, “What the hell did they slice me open for in the first place?”

‘I feel that if the surgery had been done correctly in the first place I wouldn’t be in the mess I am today. I’m disgusted by the whole experience.’

Wait. It gets worse. Wattson’s employer didn’t believe the story, so Wattson ended up getting fired. He remains jobless to this day. On top of that, he had to cope with the fear that another organ was removed during the previous surgery.

What does the NHS have to say about all of this?

Paul Gearing, deputy general manager for general surgery at Great Western Hospital NHS Trust, said: ‘We are unable to comment on individual cases.

‘However, we would like to apologise if Mr Wattson felt dissatisfied with the care he received at Great Western Hospital.’

Is that last part supposed to be sarcastic or something? Wattson went in for surgery and was told that his appendix had been successfully removed. Three weeks later he keels over in agony, is brought to the emergency room, and is told that the supposedly-removed appendix burst inside of him. Now he’s unemployed and worried about what the previous surgery actually ended up removing.

And the NHS wants to apologize, “if Mr Wattson felt dissatisfied with the care he received”? That’s the fricking understatement of the year.

Look, I know our health care system isn’t perfect. No one claims that it is. But we’re told by liberals that the NHS is such a superior system to ours. Is this story evidence of superiority?

Via HAH.