Posted on 09/14/2009 10:45:58 AM PDT by Steelfish
September 14, 2009
Families 'Kept In The Dark' As Doctors Make Life-or-Death Decisions (David Moore/Getty Images) End-of-life care is the cause of many complaints
One in four families are not informed when doctors decide that a patient in hospital is dying under a widely used NHS scheme for palliative care, a national audit has found.
Less than half of terminally ill patients and their relatives are offered religious or spiritual support in their final days and hours, while a quarter of doctors are not being trained within hospitals to deal with dying patients.
The audit, seen by The Times, comes after the NHS was accused of having a “tick-box culture” of care that defines patients as dying without questioning whether they might recover.
The criticism relates to the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP), which is endorsed by the Government and many healthcare professionals as the best way to improve treatment for dying patients with cancer or other illnesses. About 20,000 people are estimated to die each year while being cared for under the guidelines.
The nurse: some days I wish I worked in shoe shop Under the scheme, doctors and nurses collectively agree that there is no possibility of recovery. They then remove beneficial medicines and invasive medication, such as intravenous drips. They may also sedate the patients and withhold food and drink.
However, a group of leading doctors has warned that the LCP may lead clinicians to focus too much “on the outcome of death”, when some patients might recover.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Sadly, the British people have accepted their lot in life. They wanted a govt who would be their “Daddy” and now they’ve got tyranny. Has anyone here read James Hilton’s novel “So Well Remembered”? I haven’t, but plan to.
Did anyone else notice that “Lancet,” which published at least one of Dr. Zeke’s algorithmic medicine allocation method papers, is a British publication? A favorable venue, I trust.
Their argument will be that these choices need to be made by an impartial observer to avoid the non-logical choices made by emotional, grieving family members.
Or Death Pathways if you will. Unfortunately no one in the US reads the UK papers and the media certainly will not report on it. The GOP needs to figure out a way to get this information out to a wide audience and an audience composed of people still on the fence at that.
Some of the FOX shows have a decent sized audience but if you’re watching Beck or O’Reilly chances are you’re not for the healthc are plan to begin with.
I liked something I saw that said how if Obama and the dems and current media were around in 1946 they would have lambasted Churchill like they have Palin. “Iron Curtain? Look at the lies he’s spreading. There’s clearly no curtain in Eastern Europe, certainly not one made of iron. He’s just fearmongering and using scare tactics.”
“...choices need to be made by an impartial observer to avoid the non-logical choices made by emotional, grieving family members.”
If you want to promote a collective responsibility for taking care of the sick and paying for it, then you have to accept collective authority over decision-making.
I find this barbaric treatment. Why would you remove IV fluids? Would you want to spend your last days/hours being so over-medicated you couldn’t communicate with your loved ones?
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