The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

THE LAST DITCH

If it’s the right thing, why don’ t they tell the families?

Published by Tom

on

One in four relatives 'not told when doctors place patient on controversial death pathway' – Telegraph.

My title seems a fair question to me. Concealing an action suggests (but I agree does not prove) that one feels it's wrong. More scarily;

The audit also found that more than one in three patients, 37 per cent, were
given sedatives while on the pathway, although in most cases these were in
low doses

Or to put it another way, 63% of patients being starved and/or dehydrated to death (in NHS Newspeak "put on a care pathway") by their NHS doctors are not given sedatives. Let's hope they get some pain relief at least while being humanely put down.

3 responses to “If it’s the right thing, why don’ t they tell the families?”

  1. Man in a Shed Avatar
    Man in a Shed

    It seems the pathway to death is a more appropriate description. I also note that half of the 20k/yr don’t get any spiritual support, which is supposed to be provided.
    In fairness, perhaps, when the pulled the plugs on my dying Father he did get the Anglican Last Rights ( which I had no idea existed ).
    Socialism can’t even get death right.
    Pass the soylent green ….

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  2. JMB Avatar
    JMB

    Well not only a fair question but a vital one I would say. The family should be completely informed and involved in all decision making in such cases and the patient too if at all possible!
    Now you cannot make the extrapolation that you do without reading the whole report. Are they speaking of sedation in addition to pain control? Morphine is sedating of itself and extra sedation to make the patient comfortable may not be necessary in all cases. Would you prefer the syringe pushing scenario instead?
    Morphine depresses the breathing rate, often to a dangerously low level and it is a very fine balancing act to give adequate pain control without causing respiration to cease altogether. Other drugs are often given to potentiate the morphine’s pain control. It is not a simple matter to manage all these things well as each patient varies in their response. Rarely thank goodness, patients are allergic or do not tolerate morphine well and other drugs must be used although it is the drug of choice.
    Of course, to be honest, I am no longer in the system and so maybe things have changed since I retired. I hope for the better and not the worse.

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  3. jameshigham Avatar
    jameshigham

    Does the word ‘murder’ fit in anyway here?

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Tom is a retired international lawyer. He was a partner in a City of London law firm and spent almost twenty years abroad serving clients from all over the world.

Returning to London on retirement in 2011, he was dismayed to discover how much liberty had been lost in the UK while he was away.

He’s a classical liberal (libertarian, if you must) who, like his illustrious namesake, considers that

“…government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.”

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