Liverpool Care Pathway – The Evidence Is Out There

There are countless anecdotal accounts of abuses of the Liverpool Care Pathway to be found in print and on the Internet, in the news and posted on social networks.

This has been posted on a ProBoards forum page -

Liverpool Care Pathway. My 67 year old father was murdered in hospital because they were not prepared to treat his sepsis. My father was not terminally ill and did not consent to the withdrawal of food and medication. I accept that sepsis often is fatal but he was murdered. I kicked up merry hell trying to prevent it but consultants were not around at the weekend and Monday it was too late. This was last year - he had been in the care of a private consultant but as he grew progressively worse his wretched partner stole all the cash and left him to the tender mercies of the local hospital. I have enduring power of attorney for an elderly friend and he has signed an advance directive refusing to consent to the LCP - I would be very wary about going into an NHS hospital as they have some unpleasant ideas.. http://www.liv.ac.uk/mcpcil/liverpool-care-pathway/ Jacks « Last Edit: Sept 13, 2012, 9:54am by jacksfullofaces »

Are these accounts all mere hysterical and inaccurate hearsay? Is this all just idle talk, sensationalist and not to be trusted to contain even a germ of truth? Have they no basis at all in fact? These accounts are heartfelt, often angry.

Here is an account by Professor Pullicino –

U.K. ‘Death Pathway’

In June, Pullicino addressed the Royal Society of Medicine on the issue and related a personal example. One of his patients, a 71-year-old with epilepsy and pneumonia, was put on the Liverpool Care Pathway by a covering doctor on a weekend shift.

When Pullicino returned to work on Monday, "I removed the patient from the LCP, despite significant resistance," he said. "His seizures came under control, and, four weeks later, he was discharged home to his family."

Thanks go to Dr. Pullicino and his colleagues for their stand.

Thanks go to Baroness Knight of Collingtree for her noble attempt to gain rational debate in the House of Lords. She was bamboozled with flaccid, blatant denial of what is patently – and well-known to be by its victims - the truth!