Could this ever happen in England?

Austin_Allegro

Yes, it does happen in England - but this is done in a humane way under sedation - the patient does not feel hungry/thirsty or suffer in any way.

When my late father was in hospital, he had advanced Parkinson's Disease and was comatose from severe pneumonia. There was no way he could recover consciousness so we were asked if we wanted to continue antibiotic treatment to allow him to live a few days longer, or withdraw fluids/drip to allow him to die more quickly.

After some consideration we went for the latter option, though I spoke to several nurses and doctors to be assured that he wouldn't suffer, because he was kept in a euphoric state on morphine. He died after about three days. So please don't worry - sometimes this method is the most humane option.

System

withdraw this as she said that it would just cause him to swell up with the extra water?

Clairehi its true, when my daughters kidneys failed (just before her heart stopped beating) her body swelled up. It all happened so fast. I'm sure the nursing staff did the best for your Dad.

scarlet55

This can happen I'm afraid, my mum had a massive stroke 18 months ago and was unconscious for 3 weeks, she was being drip fed via a tube in her nose.
A week before she died, my sister and I were called in to see the consultant, who very matter of factly said my mum wasn't going to recover, and she was now on the 'pathway' which meant no more drip feeds, or antibiotics (she contracted pneumonia while there)
I was adamant they were not to stop these, it was bad enough seeing my mum like that without having to watch her starve to death.
The consultant reluctantly agreed to carry on with them and she died peacefully a week later..

xxdeebeexx

Thank you all for your replies.....

My neice is 21 yrs old and lives in Southern Ireland
Her grandfather spent his last few weeks at his own daughters house and my neice saw him daily.

I simply couldn't ask my SIL about what my neice told me as I would come across as very judgemental and would be unable to hide my shock. Relationships across the whole family are very strained at the moment due to my own dads poor health.

Today we were asked to make an appointment to see the ward consultant early next week. I now have 5 days to frett about what is going to be said.

Dad is in a very poor way. He went into hospital with a small patch of infection on his leg. Unfortunately he was left sitting in a chair for 14 hour because his bed had broken...... the very day that DH had been offered a days work in over 3 weeks. I was rushing for children etc and didn't fuss on behalf of my dad soon enough. By the time the bed was replaced he had a core temperature of 34.6 !

He got pneumonia a few days later..... he got very ill very quickly. We had had 'the talk' and we all, as a family agreed that there should be no resuscitation. He became desperately ill over last weekend and, against our request, was resuscitated and was kept on ITU until well enough to return to a ward. He has got progressivly worse and has lost his ability to swallow. He is being fed through a tube and is not able to wake up.

It's still early days but I'm worried about what will be said next Tuesday.

dx

JC9297

zaksmum wrote: »

When we requested his notes, there was a DNR (do not resuscitate) order which had been signed without our knowledge. I was absolutely furious, and certainly would've taken legal advice, but some of my siblings didn't want this so I had to let it go.

I believe that elderly patients are routinely left to starve to death in Britain. Didn't this method become known as the Liverpool Pathway?

Whether to resuscitate or not is a clinical decision and is not taken lightly. If families were involved in the decision many would not want medical staff to let nature take its course and would want them to attempt resus whatever the situation.

C_Mababejive

The NHS kills people every day and withdraws their basic human rights without consent.

Person_one

HeatherintheHills wrote: »

The Liverpool Care Pathway does, however, state that it "does not preclude the use of clinically assisted nutrition or hydration".

I find it interesting that there is a need to specify that in their guide for health professionals. It is like saying yes, you are allowed to feed and hydrate your dying patient, indicating that the accepted position for final stage palliative care is that hydration and nutrition are withdrawn.

I assume clinically assisted means IV fluids or a feeding tube.

Normal eating and drinking wouldn't be 'clinical'.

Person_one

walby1993 wrote: »

My mum used to work in a hospital giving patients food, drink and snacks. She was told "not to worry" about those patients on pathway. My mum being my mum ignored the instructions as she couldn't bear the thought of it and tried to get them to eat and drink something, even those who said they didn't want anything.

Why was she pressuring those who said they didn't want anything? Leave them alone for crying out loud!

I've seen relatives practically forcing food down dying patients, if their bodies are telling them they don't need it anymore leave them be, its often more for the relatives benefit than the patient's.

zaksmum

Person_one wrote: »

So, a qualified speech and language therapist then?

Trust me, you wouldn't have wanted him to end up with aspiration pneumonia, or to choke to death.

Of course we wouldn't...but my father had smoked heavily all his life and was ALWAYS coughing and spluttering, even as a young man. We told the girl this, but she insisted there was the danger of aspiration.

Surely, at the end of my father's life, a cup of tea for him that wasn't the texture of wallpaper paste wasn't too much to ask?

poet123

I am afraid this happened to my father too. I simply can't think about it now without getting very upset, suffice to say it was horrendous.