Now sick babies go on death pathway: Doctor's haunting testimony reveals how children are put on end-of-life plan

By Sue Reid and Simon Caldwell, 28 November 2012  Comments (588)

·         Practice of withdrawing food and fluid by tube being used on young patients

·         Doctor admits starving and dehydrating ten babies to death in neonatal unit

·         Liverpool Care Pathway subject of independent inquiry ordered by ministers

·         Investigation, including child patients, will look at whether cash payments to hospitals to hit death pathway targets have influenced doctors' decisions

 

Sick children are being discharged from NHS hospitals to die at home or in hospices on controversial ‘death pathways’.  Until now, end of life regime the Liverpool Care Pathway was thought to have involved only elderly and terminally-ill adults.  But the Mail can reveal the practice of withdrawing food and fluid by tube is being used on young patients as well as severely disabled newborn babies…..The doctor wrote: ‘They wish for their child to die quickly once the feeding and fluids are stopped. They wish for pneumonia. They wish for no suffering. They wish for no visible changes to their precious baby. Their wishes, however, are not consistent with my experience. Survival is often much longer than most physicians think; reflecting on my previous patients, the median time from withdrawal of hydration to death was ten days. ‘Parents and care teams are unprepared for the sometimes severe changes that they will witness in the child’s physical appearance as severe dehydration ensues.  ‘I know, as they cannot, the unique horror of witnessing a child become smaller and shrunken, as the only route out of a life that has become excruciating to the patient or to the parents who love their baby.’  To Read More.....

My Take – If this doesn’t break your heart you have no heart.