Patients caused to die against their own and their relatives' wishes
- Doctors must decide. Mother loses court battle over boy she would not allow to die, Daily Mail, 22 July 1999.
- Hospital staff face charges on “euthanasia”, The Times, 22 September 1999.
- The Final Indignity, Daily Mail, January 2000.
- Police check hospitals over “backdoor euthanasia”, The Times, 6 January 1999.
- Police investigate more “backdoor euthanasia”, The Times, 28 January 1999.
- Nurse tells why she blew whistle, The Times, 19 March 1999.
- Relatives stormed a ward to resuscitate this boy. Doctors say he should be left to die. The Times, 22 April 1999.
- Mother fails to win “right to live” ruling, The Times, 22 April 1999.
- My daughter is living proof BMA ethics are wrong, Daily Mail, 8 July 1999.
- Doctors who wanted to let child die did not act illegally, The Times, 22 July 1999.
- THE callous treatment of the elderly in NHS hospitals has been exposed by
a doctor who claims patients are denied life-saving treatment, are grossly
neglected and are given drugs which hasten death. Rita Pal, 28, a junior
doctor, was so disturbed by her experiences that she is leaving the
profession. This week she will submit a dossier to the General Medical Council
(GMC) detailing the cases of abuse that she saw.
Sunday Times April 2 2000
- Dying from Neglect. When Ann Kent wrote movingly about how a hospital hastened her Aunt Molly's death, the floodgates opened as readers shared their own horrific experiences to reveal a scandalous practice which is rife in many of our NHS hospitals, Daily Mail, 4 April, 2000.
-
Rita Pal was so disgusted by the maltreatment of the elderly she saw
while working in 12 hospitals that she decided to leave the profession. But
not before she presented a dossier to the General Medical Council earlier
this month of the cases she had witnessed.
"In every hospital I have worked there is an attitude that if people
are over 65 it is often not worth bothering to treat them," said the
28-year-old junior doctor. "Doctors are unilaterally taking the
decision to put 'do not resuscitate' or 'nil by mouth' orders on patients'
medical notes purely based on the age of the patient. Nurses are being
bullied into doing things simply because doctors want a bed freed for
another patient."
Dr Pal, from Sutton Coldfield, west Midlands, said on one occasion a
doctor told her to withdraw all medication from a stroke victim who was
conscious and could hear what was being said. Dr Pal decided to carry on the
man's medication and held his hand, telling him: "You'll be all
right." He was transferred to another unit where he died.
"I was sickened by the whole episode," she said.
On another occasion she was told to put a pneumonia patient on
diamorphine. She injected the drug into the patient's mattress and the next
day a senior doctor commented: "She is still alive. Didn't you start
her on the diamorphine?"
The patient recovered and went home. Daily Mail, 14 April 2000
- Articles in Daily Mail, 14 April, 2000.
Fury over hospital OAPs left to die by doctors.
The decisions that should always be left to our doctors, commentary by Dr Anthony Daniels.
The son's story.
The jargon, medical notes and what they mean (Abbreviations for "Do not resuscitate", "Nil by mouth" etc). - Left to die. Hospital consultant accuses nurses of routinely demanding 'do not resuscitate' orders on elderly patients. Daily Mail, 16 May, 2000.
- Junior doctors are routinely deciding not to resuscitate patients, in breach of official guidelines and without consulting them or their families ... , Daily Mail, 28 June 2000.
- Three relatives of a severely disabled boy who punched, kicked and bit hospital doctors because they believed that the child was being allowed to die were jailed yesterday. Guardian 15 July 2000. See also the David Glass website.
- A school nurse lost her job after refusing to obey a "Do not resuscitate" order on two pupils from a Head Teacher who was medically unqualified. Report on
Freedom to Care website.
- See letter
received on 13 January 2002.
- Will to live wins over the right to die. Ian Basnett is a doctor
working in the NHS. He is also paralysed from the shoulders down after an
accident 17 years ago. Then he wanted to die. Here, he says why he is glad
he didn't. Observer
Sunday March 24, 2002
- The mother of a disabled 10-year-old girl won the right yesterday to mount
a high court challenge to a hospital's alleged "unlawful refusal" to
resuscitate her daughter when she experienced severe breathing difficulties.
Clare Dyer, legal correspondent
Saturday July 12, 2003 The Guardian
- A high court judge has ordered a hospital to keep alive an ailing
91-year-old widow at the centre of a legal battle that could clarify doctors'
responsibilities in the treatment of elderly patients.
Tuesday October 7, 2003
- A landmark court case over a disabled child allegedly refused life-saving
medical treatment is set to trigger a passionate debate over the right to life
and discrimination against the handicapped. Gaby Hinsliff, chief political
correspondent
Sunday January 4, 2004 The Observer
- Doctors told Nadia to let her child die. Gaby Hinsliff on a growing
controversy over whether patients should control their destiny.
Sunday January 4, 2004 The Observer . This article refers to a
pending European appeal in the David Glass case.
- Derby coroner, Peter Ashworth, has called for a public inquiry into claims
that 11 elderly patients were deliberately left to starve to death in Rowsley
Ward at Kingsway Hospital in Derby. The claims surfaced after Jayne
Drew, a health care assistant, alerted hospital managers to the deaths of
Simon Smith and Arthur Boddice in 1997. The hospital is the
responsibility of Derbyshire Mental Health Services NHS Trust. D.
Wilkes, Daily Mail, Monday February 9, 2004.
d.wilkes@dailymail.co.uk
- A hospital nurse "brazenly overstepped the line between humane nursing and
callous dispatch" when she tried to kill four elderly patients, a court heard
today. Motivated by a drive for "ruthless efficiency" and a desire to free up
beds, Barbara Salisbury, 47, from Pontybodkin, north Wales, took it upon
herself to hasten the death of the four patients, all very ill, at Leighton
hospital, Crewe, it was alleged.
Wednesday April 28, 2004
- A terminally ill man yesterday celebrated victory in his legal battle with
the medical profession over his right to live, saying a high court verdict
swung power in end-of-life decisions back to patients. Leslie Burke, who is
suffering from a degenerative brain condition, had challenged professional
guidelines on sustaining life by artificial feeding and hydration, fearing
that his wish to go on living until he dies naturally could be overridden.
James Meikle, health correspondent
Saturday July 31, 2004 The Guardian
- The parents of a chronically ill baby girl have vowed to fight hospital
authorities if they seek a court order that would allow doctors to withhold
treatment and let their daughter die. Charlotte Wyatt weighed only 1lb when
she was born at St Mary's Hospital in Portsmouth three months prematurely and
has a damaged heart and lungs. She has never left the hospital. Sam Jones
Saturday
August 28, 2004 The Guardian
- A court hearing this week over the fate of a seriously ill 11-month-old
baby will be held in open court to aid the public debate over the issues, a
high court judge ruled yesterday. Charlotte Wyatt's parents are in dispute
with doctors who say that they will not resuscitate her if she develops
life-threatening breathing difficulties. Clare Dyer, legal correspondent
Tuesday
September 28, 2004 The Guardian
- A 51-year-old nurse was charged yesterday with murdering three elderly
women patients at a hospital in the Yorkshire Dales. Ann Grigg-Booth will
appear at Bingley magistrates court on October 12 charged with the murders of
women, aged 96, 75 and 67, at Airedale general hospital near Keighley, West
Yorkshire. She was also accused of attempting to murder a man aged 42 and
administering noxious substances to 13 other patients at the hospital. Martin
Wainwright
Tuesday
September 28, 2004 The Guardian
- Parents who want to save baby Charlotte fight doctors who say it's cruel
to let her live. Judge to decide if it would be 'intolerable' to put
11-month-old on ventilator. Clare Dyer, legal correspondent
Friday
October 1, 2004 The Guardian
- Charlotte Wyatt, the chronically-ill baby whose parents refuse to let her
die, should be kept alive so there will be more time to discuss her fate, a
doctor told the high court today. Consultant paediatrician "Dr G" - called as
an expert witness in the dispute over whether Charlotte's medical team should
be allowed not to resuscitate her if she stops breathing - advised the parents
in favour of non-resuscitation. But because Darren and Debbie Wyatt strongly
disagreed, the baby should be ventilated by way of a tracheostomy so that
further discussions could take place, he said.
Friday
October 1, 2004
- The father of Charlotte Wyatt, a desperately ill 11-month-old baby in a
court battle between her parents and doctors, made an impassioned plea to a
high court judge yesterday to not allow doctors to let her die. Clare Dyer,
legal correspondent
Saturday
October 2, 2004 The Guardian
- Charlotte Wyatt, the desperately ill baby at the centre of a legal battle
between her parents and doctors, should be allowed to die peacefully in her
parents' arms and not be subjected to further aggressive treatment, a high
court judge ruled yesterday. Mr Justice Hedley said the case evoked
"fundamental principles that undergird our humanity", which were found not in
acts of parliament or court decisions but "in the deep recesses of the common
psyche of humanity". Clare Dyer, legal correspondent
Friday
October 8, 2004 The Guardian
- A terminally ill baby boy is at the centre of a court battle over his fate
days after a high court judge ruled that 11-month-old Charlotte Wyatt should
be allowed to die. The case of nine-month-old Luke Winston Jones mirrors
Charlotte's, with doctors believing his life should not be artificially
prolonged, while his parents insist their child is a "fighter" who should be
given every chance to live. Clare Dyer, legal correspondent
Thursday
October 14, 2004 The Guardian
- The mother of a terminally-ill baby yesterday lost her battle to keep open
the option of having him put on a ventilator to prolong his life if his
condition deteriorates. But the two NHS trusts treating nine-month-old Luke
Winston-Jones made a last-minute concession and withdrew their plea for a
court declaration that giving him cardiac massage if his heart threatened to
stop would be against his best interests. Clare Dyer, legal correspondent
Saturday
October 23, 2004 The Guardian
- The family of a baby has called for an inquiry into the care he received
in his last hours, after doctors had been granted court permission to withhold
aggressive treatment while attempting to resuscitate him after a heart attack.
Ruth Winston-Jones's 10-month-old son Luke died in the early hours of
yesterday. She claimed later yesterday that he "was not given every chance",
because medical staff did not inject him with adrenaline, as had been done on
previous occasions. Tania Branigan and Clare Dyer
Saturday
November 13, 2004 The Guardian
- 'Where's Harold Shipman when you want him,' my mother would say. But the
law denied her a pain-free death. Polly Toynbee
Friday
December 10, 2004 The Guardian
- A high court judge gave doctors more discretion yesterday to decide on the
treatment of Charlotte Wyatt, the tiny premature baby clinging to life in a
hospital oxygen box, after a breakdown in the relationship between the doctors
treating her and her parents, Darren and Debbie. Portsmouth Hospitals NHS
Trust won a court ruling last October that doctors need not put the terminally
ill baby on a ventilator if her condition deteriorated. But the trust took the
case back to the high court yesterday after repeated disagreements broke out
about drugs being given to 14-month-old Charlotte at St Mary's hospital,
Portsmouth, to combat infections and ease her chronic lung disease. Her
parents accuse doctors of not doing all they might to keep her alive and have
reported them to the police. Doctors feel so threatened that the hospital has
insisted that Mr Wyatt, 33, must be accompanied by a security guard when he
visits his daughter. Clare Dyer, legal correspondent
Saturday
December 18, 2004 The Guardian
- A consultant risks being struck off the General Medical Council's list
over charges that she brought to an end the life of a comatose patient
"earlier than would have occurred naturally". After telling Ann David, an
anaesthetist, that no action would be taken, the GMC brought professional
misconduct charges, telling her "there was a considerable public interest in
testing allegations concerning the ethical question of the withdrawal of
treatment". She failed to overturn the decision in the high court. Clare Dyer
Friday
January 14, 2005 The Guardian
- The parents of baby Charlotte Wyatt yesterday failed to persuade a high
court judge to suspend an order which allows doctors not to resuscitate the
seriously ill child if she stops breathing. But Mr Justice Hedley gave Darren
and Debbie Wyatt permission to bring fresh neurological evidence which they
hope will prove her condition has improved dramatically. Steven Morris
Saturday
January 29, 2005 The Guardian
- The parents of a critically ill baby girl returned to the high court
yesterday in the hope of convincing a judge that their daughter should be
allowed to live because she can now see, hear, smile and enjoy being cuddled.
Sam Jones
Tuesday March 15, 2005 The Guardian
- A baby boy whose mother claimed that doctors refused to keep him alive
died of natural causes, a coroner ruled yesterday. Luke Winston-Jones, who had
congenital heart disease, died in Alder Hey children's hospital in Liverpool
last November when he was 10 months old. Helen Carter
Tuesday
May 10, 2005 The Guardian
- The right for terminally ill people to demand life-prolonging treatment
could force the NHS to provide inappropriate care, the court of appeal heard
today. A high court ruling last year that terminally ill people, and not their
doctors, should ultimately decide whether they receive artificial nutrition or
hydration (ANH) to prolong their life would lead to the misuse of NHS
resources, according to the Department of Health (DoH).
Wednesday May 18, 2005
- Patients who demand the right to life-prolonging treatment will have "very
serious implications" for the national health service, appeal judges were told
yesterday. Lawyers for the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, yesterday
intervened in the case and backed the General Medical Council's bid to have a
high court ruling from last year set aside. Colin Blackstock
Thursday
May 19, 2005 The Guardian
- The health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, today faced condemnation from
disability rights campaigners for suggesting terminally ill people should not
be able to insist on life-prolonging treatment. The Disability Rights
Commission (DRC) told the court of appeal it was "deeply offensive and
patronising" for the minister and the General Medical Council (GMC) to suggest
that doctors should be able to overrule the decisions of competent patients
who want the treatment.
Thursday May 19, 2005
- Leslie Burke, a terminally ill man of 45, is waiting anxiously upon the
Court of Appeal to discover whether he will, after all, be allowed to die with
a full stomach. Carol Sarler
Sunday May 22, 2005 The Observer
- 'Care from the cradle to the grave is a myth'. 'Right to live' case
goes to the court of appeal.
Monday May
23, 2005 The Guardian
- The General Medical Council (GMC) today won its appeal against a court
ruling that gave a terminally ill patient the right to life-prolonging
treatment. Leslie Burke, 45, who has a degenerative brain condition, won a
high court ruling last year to stop doctors withdrawing food and drink during
the final stages of his illness. But a panel of three judges headed by the
master of the rolls, Lord Phillips, today overturned the decision, which was
hailed as a landmark for terminally ill patients. David Batty
Thursday
July 28, 2005
- Q&A: right to life hearing. The General Medical Council today won its
appeal against a court ruling that gave a terminally ill patient the right to
life-prolonging treatment. David Batty explains the background to the case.
Thursday July 28, 2005
- A legal challenge by a man with a degenerative brain disease, who feared
doctors might end his life prematurely by cutting off artificial food and
water, need never have been brought, three appeal court judges ruled yesterday
in a case which has brought fresh scrutiny to the rights of the terminally
ill. Clare Dyer, legal editor
Friday
July 29, 2005 The Guardian
- This is not euthanasia by the back door. Despite the judgment on treatment
withdrawal, doctors unsure of patients' wishes will still act in favour of
life. Ilora Finlay
Friday
July 29, 2005 The Guardian
- Life and death issue. Leader
Saturday
July 30, 2005 The Guardian
- Charlotte Wyatt, the baby clinging to life in a hospital oxygen box, has
confounded doctors by making "remarkable progress". Doctors treating Charlotte
sent a letter to her parents, dated August 11, which said they had been
encouraged by her remarkable progress to date, but insisted there was no
change in her underlying condition. The parents now plan to use the letter to
seek to overturn a court order not to resuscitate the 22-month-old girl if she
stops breathing. Doctors at St Mary's hospital, Portsmouth, won the legal
right last October not to resuscitate Charlotte after arguing that her brain
and other organs were so seriously damaged that she had "no feeling other than
continuing pain".
Monday
August 22, 2005
- The parents of a terminally-ill baby, Charlotte Wyatt, yesterday lost an
appeal to force doctors to resuscitate her if she suffers respiratory failure.
But for the first time there was some hope for the family as the appeal court
judges ordered an urgent review into her medical condition, given her
"astonishing" improvement over the past year. Sophie Kirkham
Friday
August 26, 2005 The Guardian
- The parents of a terminally-ill baby have vowed to fight on despite their
latest court defeat to overturn an order allowing doctors not to resuscitate
her if she stops breathing. Darren Wyatt, 33, and his wife, Debbie, 24, who
have been told by the hospital treating their 22-month-old daughter Charlotte
that she has made "remarkable progress", yesterday failed to persuade the
court of appeal to rescind the order. Doctors at St Mary's hospital in
Portsmouth won the legal right last October not to resuscitate Charlotte if
she suffered respiratory failure, after arguing that her brain and other
organs were so seriously damaged she had "no feeling other than continuing
pain".
Friday August 26, 2005
- The high court in London yesterday upheld the right of the NHS to withdraw
life support systems from a critically ill 86-year-old man who is considered
by doctors to have no chance of getting better. His Muslim family appealed to
the court to block the decision on the grounds that their religious beliefs
required doctors to do everything in their power to keep their father alive.
Only God had the power to bestow death, they said. John Carvel, social affairs
editor
Saturday August 27, 2005 The Guardian
- The family of an 86-year-old Muslim war hero won leave to appeal yesterday
against a decision of the high court to allow NHS hospital doctors to withdraw
his life support. John Carvel, social affairs editor
Wednesday
August 31, 2005 The Guardian
- Last week the court of appeal ruled that Charlotte Wyatt, seriously ill
since her birth 22 months ago, should not be resuscitated if she stops
breathing. Yet her parents believe she is making a recovery. They tell Emily
Wilson they are determined to fight on.
Wednesday August 31, 2005 The Guardian
- The family of an 86-year-old Muslim second world war veteran lost a fight
in the court of appeal yesterday to stop NHS doctors withdrawing life support
treatment. John Carvel, social affairs editor
Friday
September 2, 2005 The Guardian
- The parents of a profoundly disabled baby girl, who a judge ruled last
year should not be resuscitated if she fell critically ill, returned to the
high court yesterday in an effort to overturn their daughter's "non
ventilation" order. Counsel for Debbie and Darren Wyatt told Mr Justice Hedley
that 23-month-old Charlotte Wyatt, who is being cared for at St Mary's
Hospital in Portsmouth, had "crossed an invisible line" and ventilation could
now be appropriate. Mark Honigsbaum
Friday
October 14, 2005 The Guardian
- Q&A: Charlotte Wyatt case. A high court judge today announced his decision
in a key right-to-life case. David Batty explains the background.
Friday October 21, 2005
- The parents of the profoundly disabled two-year-old Charlotte Wyatt won a
high court ruling yesterday lifting an earlier declaration that doctors need
not give her artificial ventilation if a life-threatening situation arises.
The ruling from Mr Justice Hedley came as Darren and Debbie Wyatt were
preparing to celebrate their daughter's second birthday. Portsmouth Hospitals
NHS trust, which cares for her at the city's St Mary's hospital, had sought
the order in advance to avoid a last-minute court battle at a time of medical
crisis. Her parents refused to accept that ventilation might not be in her
best interests. But in the light of Charlotte's improvement, the NHS trust
agreed yesterday that a year-old declaration that doctors would not be acting
unlawfully if they decided it was not in Charlotte's best interests to
ventilate her in an emergency should be lifted. Clare Dyer, legal editor
Saturday October 22, 2005 The Guardian
- A retired GP was cleared yesterday of murdering three patients with heavy
overdoses of morphine painkiller. After a long trial and a judge's summing-up
which lasted almost a week, a jury decided that Howard Martin had not been
"playing God" in his treatment of two men who were suffering from aggressive
cancers and a third who had senile dementia. Martin Wainwright
Thursday December 15, 2005 The Guardian
- Doctors in the UK were responsible for the deaths, through euthanasia, of
nearly 3,000 people last year, it was revealed yesterday in the first
authoritative study of the decisions they take when faced with terminally-ill
patients. More than 170,000 patients, almost a third of all deaths, had
treatment withdrawn or withheld which would have hastened their demise. ...
He found that only a small proportion of deaths - 0.16% - were attributable to
voluntary euthanasia, where patients made a request of their doctor. That
suggests that doctors participated in 936 voluntary euthanasia deaths last
year. In a further 0.33% of deaths -
1,930 patients - doctors said they ended life "without an explicit request
from the patient", which some call "non-voluntary euthanasia". Sarah
Boseley, health editor
Wednesday January 18, 2006 The Guardian
- Moving to a more open system. Leader
Thursday
January 19, 2006 The Guardian
- The rights of the dying. Letters
Friday
January 20, 2006 The Guardian
- New figures reveal that 3,000 patients were helped to die by doctors
breaking the law in the UK last year, and 192,000 people had their deaths
accelerated by medics. Midland doctor RITA PAL accuses medics of playing God
with people's lives. THE stark realities of life and death in the NHS were
revealed last week. New research showed that ending life unethically was
common practice amongst many doctors.
Jan 22 2006 Sunday Mercury
- Care homes should be able to "opt out" of trying to resuscitate elderly
residents, researchers said today. There should be a review of current
guidelines, according to which all NHS facilities must attempt resuscitation
unless someone has requested to be left to die, an expert in geriatric
medicine said. Simon Conroy, a clinical lecturer in geriatrics at Queen's
Medical Centre, Nottingham, said the intervention was unsuccessful in most
cases in care homes and community hospitals.
Friday
February 24, 2006
- Doctors treating a severely disabled two-year-old girl should be allowed
to act against her parents' wishes and let her die if they feel it is best for
her, a high court judge has ruled. Charlotte Wyatt, born prematurely, weighing
1lb and with severe brain and organ damage, has spent most of her life in
hospital. Her parents, Darren and Debbie, have fought doctors at St Mary's
hospital, Portsmouth, to ensure that she is given artificial ventilation
should she need it. Sam Jones
Saturday
February 25, 2006 The Guardian
- A judge will decide if a 17-month-old boy is to live or die in the latest
right-to-life treatment case at the High Court.
Thursday March 2, 2006 7:03 AM
- Doctors yesterday asked the high court for permission to turn off the
ventilator keeping a 17-month-old boy alive, even though there is evidence
that he has some awareness of his surroundings. The boy, who the court has
ordered must not be identified, is not in a persistent vegetative state. He
can follow a teddy bear moved in front of his face with his eyes. His parents
argue that he responds to them and has a quality of life, but his doctors say
it is impossible to know what he is suffering. The judge, Mr Justice Holman,
said it was a landmark case because for the first time the court was being
asked to decide whether a child who had cognitive function should live or die.
"This case concerns a baby who requires constant ventilation and would die
rapidly if it was removed. It's believed he can see and react to what he sees
and react to what he hears, and there's some evidence he responds to
commands," he said. The judge has allowed the proceedings to be heard in open
court because of the importance of the issue. Sarah Boseley, health editor
Tuesday March 7, 2006 The Guardian
- The parents of a terminally ill 18-month-old boy yesterday won a landmark
ruling when a high court judge stopped doctors withdrawing life support. Mr
Justice Holman refused to give the NHS trust caring for the boy a declaration
that it would be lawful and in his best interests to take him off the
ventilator that is keeping him alive. The case is the first in which the court
has been asked to sanction the withdrawal of treatment from a child assumed to
have normal brain function and awareness. Clare Dyer, legal editor
Thursday March 16, 2006 The Guardian
- Stop trying to kill us off. The legalisation of premature death as
a treatment option is a threat to disabled people. Assisted dying is not a
simple question of increasing choice for those of us who live our lives close
to death. It raises deep concerns about how we are viewed by society and by
ourselves. I have a severe form of spinal muscular atrophy, and require
24-hour assistance. Many people who do not know me believe I would be "better
off dead". Jane Campbell
Tuesday
May 9, 2006 The Guardian
- Today, religious voices in the House of Lords will try to stifle debate on
a basic human choice - to die with dignity. Polly Toynbee
Friday
May 12, 2006 The Guardian [I believe it is too dangerous to
permit assisted suicide]
- Taking the decision to die. Letters
Friday
May 12, 2006 The Guardian
- The House of Lords voted yesterday to block a bill which would permit
assisted suicide for the terminally ill after an impassioned debate which
brought out differences within political parties and religious faiths.
Will Woodward, chief political correspondent
Saturday May 13, 2006 The Guardian
- A doctor and two nurses have been charged with deliberately killing
patients stranded in a New
Orleans hospital after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city. Cut off by the
floodwaters, lacking food, water and electricity, and enduring temperatures
approaching 38C (100F), staff at the New Orleans Memorial Medical Centre ended
the lives of several patients, the Louisiana attorney general's office said.
"We're not calling this euthanasia. We're not calling this mercy killings.
This is second-degree murder," Kris Wartelle, a
spokeswoman for the attorney general, Charles Foti, told reporters. Oliver
Burkeman in New York
Tuesday
July 18, 2006 Guardian
- Doctors help about two-thirds of terminally ill patients to die by
withholding treatment or giving them painkillers they know will shorten life -
but do it only when they believe death is a few days away and after consulting
patients, relatives or other doctors, according to research. Sarah Boseley,
health editor
Saturday October 14, 2006 The Guardian
- Doctors involved in childbirth are calling for an open discussion about
the ethics of euthanasia for the sickest of newborn babies. The option to end
the suffering of a severely damaged newborn baby - who might have been aborted
if the parents had known earlier the extent of its disabilities and potential
suffering - should be discussed, says the Royal College of Obstetricians and
Gynaecologists in its evidence to an inquiry by the Nuffield Council on
Bioethics, which examines ethical issues raised by new developments. The
college says the Nuffield's working group should "think more radically about
non-resuscitation, withdrawal of treatment decisions, the best-interests test
and active euthanasia as they are means of widening the management options
available to the sickest of newborns". Sarah Boseley, health editor
Monday
November 6, 2006 The Guardian
- Judge rejects right-to-die plea by family. Court orders 'miracle'
drug treatment. A woman in a vegetative state is to be given a "miracle"
sleeping pill said to have caused others in her condition to "wake up" after
England's senior family court judge overruled the objections of her family in
the first case of its kind. Clare Dyer, legal editor
Monday
November 20, 2006 The Guardian
- Judge allows death with dignity for woman as 'miracle' drug fails.
Treatment had no positive effect, high court told. Ruling allows NHS
trust to withdraw medical support. A 53-year-old woman in a permanent
vegetative state (PVS) can be allowed to die with dignity, a high court judge
ruled yesterday. The woman, known as J, was given a miracle drug that might
have restored consciousness against the fervent wishes of her family. Giving
permission to an NHS trust to withdraw life-sustaining treatment, Sir Mark
Potter, the president of the court's family division, said the brief course of
treatment with the drug zolpidem had produced no positive effect. David
Pallister
Thursday December 7, 2006 The Guardian
- Dying woman begged for food, inquest told. NHS staff dispute
claim 91-year-old was starved. · Inquest hears she was not fed for 4
days in hospital. A 91-year-old grandmother left in hospital for four days
without food or fluids had begged to be given a beetroot sandwich, some
macaroni cheese and a cup of tea shortly before she died, an inquest heard
yesterday. The family of Olive Nockels, a former school matron from Holt,
Norfolk, say she had asked them if she could have something to eat and drink,
although this is disputed by doctors and nurses at the
Norfolk and Norwich University hospital. Mrs Nockels had been receiving
fluids containing dextrose after being admitted to the hospital on September
14 2003 following a stroke, the inquest in Norwich heard. But doctors decided
to stop when she developed an oedema - a build-up of excess fluid in her body
- and became "waterlogged", leaking fluid from her arms, trunk and legs. Two
attempts were made to fit Mrs Nockels with a tube to feed her through her nose
, but she became distressed and the efforts were abandoned. Between October 2
and October 6, 2003, she went without any food or fluids, the inquest heard.
Her grandson, Chris West, obtained a high court injunction ordering the
treatment to be reinstated, but it was overturned the next day when a hospital
consultant expressed concern to the judge. Lee Glendinning
Tuesday
January 9, 2007 The Guardian
- Care home shuts after two arrests as police investigate deaths.
Detectives are investigating seven deaths among residents at an elderly
people's home, which was closed yesterday following the arrest of a nurse and
a chef on suspicion of poisoning. The couple were released on bail after
police questions about the death of 97-year-old Lucy Cox at the 16-bed private
Parkfields home, in the
Somerset village of Butleigh, near Glastonbury. Martin Wainwright
Friday March 16, 2007 The Guardian
- Decide now who can turn off your life support. People should start
considering now who they would like to take medical treatment decisions for
them should they lose the power to decide for themselves, the British Medical
Association advised yesterday. When the Mental Capacity Act comes into force
in October, individuals will be able to appoint a close friend or relative to
act on their behalf if they lose the ability to say yes or no to treatment.
Clare Dyer, legal editor
Saturday March 31, 2007 The Guardian
- Police to exhume three former care home residents as seven deaths
deemed suspicious. Police will today begin exhumations of elderly people
who were living at a care home, as part of a widening investigation into
concern about how they died. Detectives will announce they are investigating
at least seven suspicious deaths at the Parkfields residential care home near
Glastonbury,
Somerset. In what officers admit is a "drastic step", the remains of
Nellie Mary Pickford, who died almost a year ago at 89, will be removed from a
graveyard. A postmortem will try to establish how she died, after which she
will be reburied. Over the next five weeks, two further former residents of
the home in Butleigh will be exhumed and examined. They follow the arrest of a
registered nurse, Rachel Baker, 42, and her husband, Leigh, a 48-year-old
chef, who ran the home. Mrs Baker was questioned on suspicion of administering
a noxious substance, and Mr Baker of "being concerned" in the administering.
Both are on bail. The police inquiry began after concerns were raised by the
Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI), which registers, inspects, and
reports on social care services in England. Its concern followed the death of
one resident, Lucy Cox, aged 97, at the home on New Year's Day. Steven Morris
Tuesday June 5, 2007 Guardian
- Doctor denies misconduct for injecting dying babies. A doctor
who administered a dose of a paralysing drug to two terminally ill babies said
he acted because they were suffering violent body spasms that were "horrendous
to witness" for their parents. Consultant neo-natologist Michael Munro, 41,
denied misconduct at a General Medical Council (GMC) fitness to practise
panel. He had injected the infants, known only as babies X and Y, with muscle
relaxant pancuronium when they suffered the spasms in the moments before their
deaths - a phenomenon, known as agonal gasping. Press Association
Monday
July 9, 2007 SocietyGuardian.co.uk
- GMC clears hospital doctor who hastened babies' deaths. A hospital
consultant who helped to hasten the deaths of two dying premature babies was
cleared of misconduct by the General Medical Council yesterday. Michael Munro,
41, a consultant neonatologist at
Aberdeen maternity hospital, injected a large dose of a muscle relaxant
into the babies moments before their deaths in 2005 to ease their distress. In
an act which the GMC said was tantamount to euthanasia, he injected 23 times
the recommended dose of pancuronium. However, a disciplinary panel in
Manchester found his fitness to practise was not impaired by his actions. The
hearing was told that both infants, Baby X and Baby Y, suffered violent spasms
in the final throes of death and both appeared to be very distressed. The
condition, known as agonal gasping, often occurs when treatment has been
withdrawn from the terminally ill. The babies' parents knew what he was doing
and that the injection would relieve their suffering and hasten their deaths.
Dr Munro administered a huge 2,000mg dose of the muscle relaxant, which
stopped the babies breathing, and they died a short time later. The fitness to
practise panel decided the doctor had administered the drug to relieve the
children's suffering rather than hasten their death, although this had been an
expected consequence. The panel rejected claims that his actions were
inappropriate and fell below standard, as there were no specific
professional guidelines. Helen Carter
Thursday July 12, 2007 The Guardian
- Ward nurse accused of killing four patients. A nurse accused of
murdering four patients correctly predicted the time one of them would die and
said it was "just his luck" as he would have all the paperwork to do, a court
heard yesterday. Colin Norris, 31, told a staff nurse at
Leeds General Infirmary that things always went wrong in the night and
that Ethel Hall would die at 5.15am on his shift, said Robert Smith,
prosecuting. Catherine Heffernan
Wednesday October 17, 2007 The Guardian
- Care home couple held over residents' deaths. A couple who ran a
care home for elderly people in
Somerset were arrested and questioned by detectives about the alleged
murder of five residents yesterday. Rachel Baker, 45, a registered nurse, and
her husband, Leigh, 48, a chef, were also interviewed on suspicion of theft,
drug possession and attempting to pervert the course of justice. The decision
to detain the couple followed exhumations at several cemeteries. Toxicology
tests are believed to have been carried out on the bodies. Owen Bowcott
Tuesday
December 11, 2007 The Guardian
The website http://www.nhsmurders.co.uk/ was a call for a Public Inquiry into the causes of death
of Baby Sunaina. It has been closed down by court order. See
http://www.perceptions.couk.com/ctorder.txt
PETITIONS
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