Hazel Fenton, from East Sussex, is alive nine months after medics ruled she had only days to live, withdrew her antibiotics and denied her artificial feeding.  The former school matron had been placed on a controversial care plan intended to ease the last days of dying patients.

Doctors say Fenton is an example of patients who have been condemned to death on the Liverpool care pathway plan.  They argue that while it is suitable for patients who do have only days to live, it is being used more widely in the NHS, denying treatment to elderly patients who are not dying.
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A spokesman for East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, demonstrating yet again that “There’s No Smarm Quite the Equal of British Institutional Smarm,” said: “Patients’ needs are assessed before they are placed on the [plan].  Daily reviews are undertaken by clinicians whenever possible.”

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 21:01:32 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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