Should hospitals be paid to hasten your death?

[pdq1]

http://www.dailymail....ool-Care-Pathway.html

It seems they are paid to do just that. By killing off a patient by one day saves £200. Some hospitals are so good at it they have exceeded their targets.

[slaney]

The Liverpool Care Pathway was designed with the best of intentions - to ease the suffering of the dying.
However, concerns have arisen that it might not always be applied appropriately. Predicting how long a patient will live is notoriously difficult. Informed consent in very ill patients also presents a problem, and there also seems to be the case that relatives are not always informed.
This is a link to a letter in the Telegraph in July of this year by some doctors expressing concerns some of which I share..
http://www.telegraph....y-one-way-street.html
As a result of these concerns there is to be an investigation by the Association for Palliative Medicine...
http://www.telegraph....ool-Care-Pathway.html
This is welcome, but to my mind it would be better for the investigation to be done by a separate independent body rather than by those administering it.

[pdq1]

Are they only terminal because of age and being treated in the NHS. Just take the Duke of Edinburgh who had to go to hospital recently. Although he is in his 90's he came out alive. If he had been an NHS patient he would be pushing up the roses by now.

[marval]

The LCP is good for people who are terminal and suffering, but for people who are not it should never be used. Hospitals should do their best best for all patients, whatever their age. This idea of not treating people because they are old is unacceptable.

[emmie]

my partners care was second rate, hopeless nurses, a too busy to see us consultant, and no explanation for the DNR notice. There was more they could have done, but chose not to. That has left me with a rage in my heart, which i suspect will live with me forever.

[joko]

my dad told me recently about when his brother died in hospital after a stroke ... he had suffered even further because he had got out of bed after the stroke and fallen and broken a hip.

while he was in hospital - for many months - he was somewhat recovering, and even though at his age (87) his time on this earth was limited anyway - but i think he could potentially have recovered and lived another few years.

my dads family have a good history of living to ripe old ages and surviving all types of serious illnesses that would finish many people off, and are generally pretty hardy ...

he begged my dad to get him out of there as he felt they were trying to kill him ... my dad was furious and believed him totally - i thought this was just my uncle and dad being extremely supicious and paranoid - (they are about everything in anyway, so not much of a leap)

I told my dad i doubted this as it would be murder... they take an oath to care for a person and only if they are terminal would they not resusitate - which is not the same things as murder
my uncle, although ill was not on his deathbed.

we are in liverpool, so now i suspect my dad and uncle were right and this is what happened.
He was 87, and my dad is 84... and they only retired 5 years ago... both were quite active for their ages and my dad still is.

it upsets me even more to know this his death was probably hurried - because he died on his birthday.

it also upsets me because its clear my dad is terrified of the same thing happening to him