Sunday 2 June 2013

Liverpool Care Pathway - A Cover For Euthanasia...?

New study: The Liverpool Care Pathway provides "poor effect for symptom control." This "suggests areas for further innovation and development".

"It is possible that the LCP does not result in improved symptom control."
This is from the abstract of the study reported on Sage Journals' Palliative Medicine -
Conclusions: These results provide the first robust data collected from family members of a preliminary clinically significant improvement, in some aspects, of quality of care after the implementation of the Italian version of Liverpool Care Pathway programme. The poor effect for symptom control suggests areas for further innovation and development.
This is Medscape -

The Italian pilot study conducted by Costantini “did not improve symptoms of pain, breathlessness, or nausea and vomiting”.
"This poor effect for symptom control is difficult to explain," Dr. Costantini said. "It is possible that the LCP does not result in improved symptom control, but this needs further investigation. Controlling these symptoms at the end of life is complex. More research into how symptoms can be effectively controlled is required."
Arguably, if it does not provide ‘symptom control’, what other purpose does the LCP serve than to provide a legal cover for the long-standing practice of euthanasia in British hospitals...?

No comments:

Post a Comment