Palliative care. Has anything really changed?

Scotland`s Patient Association 





It is worth reflecting back on the following article from the Daily Record given that nothing much has changed and the current emphasis in the care of the elderly is still to encourage them to contemplate their decline and death:

A DRUG given to US Death Row prisoners is being used on dying old folk in Scotland's hospitals. Medics use the sedative midazolam as part of a highly controversial "pathway to death" care plan for people judged by doctors to be in the last hours of their lives.

But patients' leaders warned yesterday that the widespread use of the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) in Scotland's NHS is robbing pensioners of the chance of life. They claim that, for some old folk, being put on the LCP is effectively a death sentence.

And research has found that many doctors decided to put patients on the pathway WITHOUT the consent of their loved-ones. Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the Scotland Patients Association, told the Record: "The LCP can be used to bring patients' lives to a premature end.

"We have patients on our records who should be dead but are not. Their families had to fight to get them appropriate treatment. "If the relatives had not had power of attorney, it would have been 'ta ta' to the patients. And we're convinced this is only the tip of the iceberg.

"How many people's lives have been taken that should have been here today?" "We're concerned to hear about cases where patients have been given drugs used on Death Row without properly consulting the patient or their family. "Doctors are meant to save lives, not take them. If they do, that's murder."

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/health/death-row-drug-fed-to-dying-1093688

Planning for decline, dying and death

The Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care is a charitable company limited by guarantee, and is registered as a Scottish charity with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator.
You can download a copy of the Partnership's constitution here.

"The Partnership is a membership organisation, and criteria for membership are defined in the Memorandum and Articles of Association. The Partnership has around 54 member organisations, comprising NHS Boards, voluntary hospices, national charities and support organisations and professional associations" - in other words everybody who wants to push forward the palliative care agenda. So no conflict of interest there?

These unelected people have a vision for the rest of us. They want Scotland to be a place where:

Information is readily available on planning for decline, dying, death and bereavement.

People have access to legal, financial and spiritual support for end of life planning (including wills, Power of Attorney, funeral arrangements).

Families, communities and professions support and encourage each other to plan ahead for decline, death, dying and bereavement.

People have the opportunity to discuss and plan for their decline and death with health and social care professionals.

Health and social care professionals feel able to engage and initiate end of life care planning discussions with older people and their families.

People have anticipatory care plans.

As a result of planning and preparation people have fewer concerns about the practical, legal, financial and emotional aspects of decline, dying and death.

Do you get the feeling they are trying to push forward a particular agenda?