Posted on 07/24/2012 3:29:28 AM PDT by markomalley
Terminally ill patients are being issued with special cards warning doctors not to place them on a controversial “death pathway” amid fears the practice is becoming routine.
The “advance refusal” notices operate like an organ donor card, enabling people approaching the end of their life to make their wishes clear to while they still have capacity.
It comes amid a growing backlash against overuse of the “Liverpool Care Pathway” which allows medical staff to withhold fluid and drugs from a patient while they are heavily sedated, actively speeding their end.
Supporters of the technique say that it is the kindest way of letting people slip away rather than die in pain.
But leading doctors have voiced fears that hospitals are hastening the deaths of elderly patients to cut costs and free up bed space amid claims it has become a “standard” alternative to euthanasia.
The number of patients put on the pathway has risen sharply in recent years, and opponents estimate that it is now said to be associated with almost a third of hospital deaths – or 130,000 people.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
That’s going to be interesting news to the 300 million who just received socialized medicine as a gift from Justice Roberts.
The media will continue to hype it as a “feature” and not a “bug”, as MS used to do with their 90s crappy/unstable win-v3.1/win-v95 software. Sadly, many people will probably buy into it. Sorry, bad analogy this early.
For later
How nice...a “GET OUT OF EUTHANASIA FREE” card for socialists!
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