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No Room for Compassion by Alice Weston
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No Room for Compassion |
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Blogs,Law,Government
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The Liverpool Care Pathway was developed with the express intention of avoiding unnecessary interventions in the care of people who are dying. The aim of the pathway was to ensure a good, dignified death. However the LCP is now to be phased out and replaced by an individual end of life care plan. This was all following an independent review led by Lady Julia Neuberger. Its findings showed failures surrounding training and implementation of the practices. This has resulted in poor practice and alleged hospital negligence. Families of those placed on the LCP have complained they felt the lives of their elderly relatives were no longer valued. The LCP often involved withholding food and drink; this caused a great deal of distress as staff appeared on occasion to be refusing liquids to people who were clearly thirsty and able to take liquids orally. Failure to provide oral hydration to people who are still capable of drinking “should be regarded as professional misconduct.” The main issues with the LCP seem not to be with the methods themselves. When employed properly the methods outlined by the LCP have the opportunity to offer the patient what can be termed a ‘good death’ without unnecessary stress. The main issue appears to be one of communication. Many relatives of loved ones placed on the pathway did not feel properly involved with the decision and were not included in discussions surrounding their relatives’ treatment. There have been incidents of people discovering a loved one’s placement on the LCP by accident. Sometimes people have not been informed their relative is dying at all or do not know what they can expect to happen during the process. In terms of technique there has been widespread criticism of the use of opioid pain killers and tranquillisers – or rather their overuse. There have been plenty of accounts of patients being rendered too drowsy to communicate; many relatives suspect the drugs may have been used to hasten death. These incidents have led people to widely associate the LCP with poor end of life care. The review by Lady Julia Neuberger has recommended the LCP be phased out to be replaced by individualised end of life care plans. This proposal has been accepted by health minister Norman Lamb who agrees the LCP has become a ‘tick box’ procedure which does not sufficiently cater to the needs of individuals and leaves no room for care and compassion. http://hospitalnegligence.info
Related Articles -
Hospital Negligence, Hospital Malpractice, Medical Negligence, Medical Malpractice Law, NHS,
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