NHS millions for controversial care pathway The majority of NHS hospitals in England are being given financial rewards for placing terminally-ill patients on a controversial “pathway” to death, it can be disclosed By John Bingham, Social Affairs Editor
10:07PM GMT 31 Oct 2012
Almost two thirds of NHS trusts using the Liverpool Care Pathway have received payouts totalling millions of pounds for hitting targets related to its use, research for The Daily Telegraph shows.
The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal the full scale of financial inducements for the first time.
They suggest that about 85 per cent of trusts have now adopted the regime, which can involve the removal of hydration and nutrition from dying patients.
More than six out of 10 of those trusts - just over half of the total - have received or are due to receive financial rewards for doing so amounting to at least £12million. At many hospitals more than 50 per cent of all patients who died had been placed on the pathway and in one case the proportion of forseeable deaths on the pathway was almost nine out of 10.
Last night the Department of Health insisted that the payments could help ensure that people were “treated with dignity in their final days and hours”.
But opponents described it as “absolutely shocking” that hospitals could be paid to employ potentially “lethal” treatments.
The LCP was originally developed at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and the city’s Marie Curie hospice to ease suffering in dying patients, setting out principles for how they to be treated.
It involves the withdrawal of treatments or tests from patients which doctors believe could cause distress and do more harm than good.
Protocols say that doctors should consult the patient, if possible, and their families.
But the system has been mired in controversy amid claims that it can actively hasten death. A series of cases have also come to light in which family members said they were not consulted or even informed when food and fluids were withheld from their loved-ones. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/hea.....al-care-pathway.html
Millions of Americans have signed up for "Do Not Resuscitate" orders, that will 'end their life' prematurely in the event that they have a terminal illness. Hospitals and doctors are trained to 'extend life', often when extending life is not in the best interest of the patient and against the patients wishes.
Palliative care, or Hospice care are often much better medicine than care that is aimed on 'extending life'.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Millions of Americans have signed up for "Do Not Resuscitate" orders, that will 'end their life' prematurely in the event that they have a terminal illness. Hospitals and doctors are trained to 'extend life', often when extending life is not in the best interest of the patient and against the patients wishes.
Palliative care, or Hospice care are often much better medicine than care that is aimed on 'extending life'.
I think this should be expanded to "do not put in Nursing home" as well... I know it's controversial, but 95% that go to a nursing home, never leave with a pulse. I've seen enough of them to think of them as societies waiting room to see the reaper. I know if I was looking at having to go, depending on my condition and the reason I was being sent there, I might choose being "morphened" to death.
"Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock out the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like it is victorious." - Author Unknown
Do not resusitate is not the same thing as the hospital just denying food and liquid, without consulting family members, to end a persons life, right now if any hospital staff did that they would be charged with murder. If the patient decides to refuse food and water that's entirely acceptable IMHO.
I think this should be expanded to "do not put in Nursing home" as well... I know it's controversial, but 95% that go to a nursing home, never leave with a pulse. I've seen enough of them to think of them as societies waiting room to see the reaper. I know if I was looking at having to go, depending on my condition and the reason I was being sent there, I might choose being "morphened" to death.
Think about it Tbird... The people who can no longer take care of themselves, especially due to terminal conditions, go to nursing homes. Of course most don't leave with a pulse...THEY ARE DYING!
Many patients in a nursing home are there recovering from a medical condition that no longer requires a hospital, but does require a few months to recover and return home. Stroke patients or accident victims are a few examples.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Think about it Tbird... The people who can no longer take care of themselves, especially due to terminal conditions, go to nursing homes. Of course most don't leave with a pulse...THEY ARE DYING!
Many patients in a nursing home are there recovering from a medical condition that no longer requires a hospital, but does require a few months to recover and return home. Stroke patients or accident victims are a few examples.
You obviously haven't been to many of these facilities. I worked at one and have had to visit elderly relatives in several of them. The VAST majority of them are being warehoused for death. Accident or stroke victims are more likely to be sent to rehab hospitals like Sunnyview or go to outpatient services than sent to Nursing homes. Most people with terminal conditions are NOT sent to nursing homes, they are sent to Hospice. The average stay for a Nursing Home inmate in NYS is two years. In most cases, the reason that people get sent to Nursing homes is the lack of the physical or Mental capacity to take of themselves, and do not have family members that can/would be willing to do it.
Nursing homes for the most part, are some of the most depressing places I have been to. Even more so than Hospice... At least at Hospice, there is a predictable timeline from arrival to exiting.
"Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock out the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like it is victorious." - Author Unknown
You obviously haven't been to many of these facilities. I worked at one and have had to visit elderly relatives in several of them. The VAST majority of them are being warehoused for death. Accident or stroke victims are more likely to be sent to rehab hospitals like Sunnyview or go to outpatient services than sent to Nursing homes. Most people with terminal conditions are NOT sent to nursing homes, they are sent to Hospice. The average stay for a Nursing Home inmate in NYS is two years. In most cases, the reason that people get sent to Nursing homes is the lack of the physical or Mental capacity to take of themselves, and do not have family members that can/would be willing to do it.
Nursing homes for the most part, are some of the most depressing places I have been to. Even more so than Hospice... At least at Hospice, there is a predictable timeline from arrival to exiting.
A patient is eligible for hospice as long as he/she has a life-limiting illness with a prognosis of 6 months or less to live if the disease process proceeds on its expected course. If you have terminal cancer, can no longer take care of yourself, and no longer need hospital care, and not expected to die in 6 months or less... you will likely be referred to a nursing home.
Sometimes the difference between going to a rehab facility or a nursing home is funding/insurance.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
DNR's, Living Wills and Health Care Proxies have been around for decades. However, it was discussed between the person's personal physicial and attorney!
NOWHERE.....were their insurance companies threatening to hold back funding IF 'certain proceedures' regarding end of life treatment was concerned.
That is NOT the case now with the government involved and with the HUGE cost of this obamacare!!
AND WE KNOW THIS FIRST HAND TO BE TRUE!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Millions of Americans have signed up for "Do Not Resuscitate" orders, that will 'end their life' prematurely in the event that they have a terminal illness. Hospitals and doctors are trained to 'extend life', often when extending life is not in the best interest of the patient and against the patients wishes.
Palliative care, or Hospice care are often much better medicine than care that is aimed on 'extending life'.
it is up to the patient to AVOID the hospitals/institutions/systems when wanting nothing of life extention.....
ONE CAN SAY NO TO TREATMENT JUST AS MUCH AS ONE CAN SAY NO TO ALCOHOL/DRUGS....
it's just so progressive to say,,,we fight for the rights of the dead/dying/abortion.....
people have been dying with dignity for millions of years....did we become so urbane/progressive and stupid that we think systems need to be set up for death....WOW....they already existed...giving them fancy names doesn't make us own it as if it is new....but hence the snake oil salesmen get their 15minutes of fame........
flowering up the lingo to sound like some mystical/magical/sacred moment is ridiculous....
some folks call conception a mystical/magical moment and sacred but we have abortion....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
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