[wagglebee]

"Ellen Westwood was due to die in February but her family's Catholic and for them, life is sacred." So begins the television coverage by the BBC of a battle by a Birmingham family to prevent the NHS from dehydrating their mother to death.

Memo to the miscreants at the BBC:
Life SHOULD be sacred to EVERYBODY.

[wagglebee]

Pro-Life/Catholic Ping

[wagglebee]

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[wagglebee]

Under the UK's Mental Capacity Act, passed in 2005, patients deemed to be incapable of making decisions in their own "best interests" can have all fluids withheld until they die. The family can do little to stop this process once doctors have made their decision.

Here is a nice little glimpse of what socialized medicine brings.

[Dante3]

Absolutely.

[teletech]

National Health Care: Can we in the US be far behind under Obama?

[Man50D]

"If you deem somebody to have lost capacity, then the doctors can act in the best interests," she said.

Obviously she meant the best interests of the hospital's bottom line.

[socialismisinsidious]

Socialized Medicine aka Universal Health Care PING LIST

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[Dante3]

Several statements in this article make me cringe. One is that the doctors decided it was in the patient's “best interest . . . to die.” Another one was that the hospital officials threatened to report the family to social services for giving her food. And what would social services have done? Reminds me of Terri's case. Fortunately this had a different ending.

[RightWhale]

Doctors are officers and agents of the state institution of justice and the state has the power of death.

[maine-iac7]

Before we suffer in ignorance, thinking this is just the UK - better do some research on the same "patients deemed to be incapable of making decisions in their own "best interests" can have all fluids withheld until they die. The family can do little to stop this process once doctors have made their decision." rules in Texas - and maybe other states.

And you can't yank your relative out of the offending hospital and transfer to another -

This lady went to the hospital for "routine shoulder surgery."

I have personally witnessed patients being put in nursing homes, perfectly sound in mind, and not on any medications, being instantly plied with several meds that resulted in dementia-like symptoms, incontinence, etc...

I had a friend last year who had an aneurysm - and the family, at the advice of the medics, pulled the plug in just 2 days.

The relatively new yardstick for death, called "brain dead" is misleading. Many times, it turns out the brain was just 'resting' while the body healed.

HOWEVER - organ transplants are BIG $$$ and they are most viable when taken from a body whose heart is still beating. Indeed, many organs are not suitable for transplant once the heard stops beating. The criteria for death, has, since the world began, until the advent on transplants, been - when the heart stops beating.

I wouldn't want to be kept alive indefinitely on machines = but neither would I want to be looked at as a big chunk of money ready to harvest.

Pray to stay well until you just, one day, fall asleep and don't wake up.

[Grizzled Bear]

Hospital officials responded by threatening to report the family to social services for feeding Mrs. Westwood.

I'm speechless! I'm freakin' speechless!

[kitkat]

BUMP

[ArchAngel1983]

Hospital officials responded by threatening to report the family to social services for feeding Mrs. Westwood.

That’s it, I can’t take it anymore…

[Sun]

“Eventually the family obtained a second opinion and Mrs. Westwood was able to go home, where she is recovering well and is celebrating her 89th birthday today.”

It shows just how wrong they were, but I’m glad at least this story had a happy ending.

And if drugs make someone temporarily incoherent, they can be dehydrated to death, if a loved one doesn’t fight for them, and dehydration is a tough way to die.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

My mother is 86 and is in the later stages of Parkinson’s, but she has a will to live. We can’t leave her alone for a minute, but we all take turns taking care of her. We value her life, and we’re even taking her with us to the seashore on Friday. This story is barbaric...

[lymelady]

That’s truly frightening. I think denying someone fluids and having them die by dehydration should be deemed torture.

I’m glad her family fought and she’s alive and safe. But how many families are there out there who didn’t fight or fought but lost and there was no media attention because there was no living patient to prove that it was a bad decision?

This is what the culture of death is. Once we start deciding that humans are worth what other people decide they’re worth and don’t have any value in themselves, we reach a barbaric level.