Patients in the UK are 'sentenced to death'
It is a best practice in Britain to put patients receiving (often expensive) end-of-life care on a "death pathway" - which causes many premature deaths. Barack Obama "will accelerate efforts to develop and disseminate best practices."
Uh-oh, that's two-thirds of a syllogism.
From the Daily Telegraph:
Under NHS guidance introduced across England to help doctors and medical staff deal with dying patients, they can then have fluid and drugs withdrawn and many are put on continuous sedation until they pass away.The whole article is worth reading, rereading and sending to all your friends (especially those on the other side of the health care debate), because it clearly shows where socialized medicine leads.
But this approach can also mask the signs that their condition is improving, the experts warn.
As a result the scheme is causing a "national crisis" in patient care, the letter states. It has been signed palliative care experts including Professor Peter Millard, Emeritus Professor of Geriatrics, University of London, Dr Peter Hargreaves, a consultant in Palliative Medicine at St Luke's cancer centre in Guildford, and four others.
"Forecasting death is an inexact science," they say. Patients are being diagnosed as being close to death "without regard to the fact that the diagnosis could be wrong.
This isn't a small phenomenon, either. In 2007-08, 16.5 percent of all British deaths came after doctors administered this "death pathway." This rate is twice as high as the rate in Belgium and the Netherlands.
How did this come about? First this "death gateway" was established as a "best practice" in 2004. Then it was gradually adopted nationwide.
If you've been following the health care debate, you've often heard President Obama use this same term - best practices. Here's what Barack Obama's website says about them:
Barack Obama and Joe Biden will accelerate efforts to develop and disseminate best practices, and align reimbursement with provision of high quality health care.It's worth repeating the conclusion to which these facts lead us. It is a best practice in Britain to put patients receiving expensive end-of-life care on a "death pathway" - many prematurely. Barack Obama will accelerate efforts to develop and disseminate best practices." Therefore ...
That's one syllogism I hope we never have to finish.
