This article is just horrifying!
Eleven elderly patients on the same hospital ward were deliberately starved to death, an inquest was told yesterday.
The patients, all men aged between 67 and 93, died after having their food and drink needlessly withdrawn, according to relatives.
After a police investigation into the deaths, which happened between 1995-97, the Crown Prosecution Service decided that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute. Three members of the hospital staff have remained suspended on full pay for the past eight years.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/01/19/nhosp19.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/01/19/ixhome.html
read all of it!
However, he said: "If it should transpire that food and fluids were withdrawn in good faith and in the not unreasonable belief that it was in their best interests as the lesser of two evils, committing them to die in as much comfort and dignity as possible. . . it would be grossly unfair to record a verdict other than that of death by natural causes."
legalese for "giant loophole?"
so as long as you kill then in "good faith" - it's acceptable?
Lord, save us from the legalese parsing of lawyers and judges - It "IS" murder