Liverpool Care Pathway - A Blind Faith

Have they lost their humanity totally that they cannot see that what they do is wrong?

Are they so blinded to the truth before their eyes that they ignore or cannot see the wrong that they do?

Is their belief, their faith, so complete?

Voices clamour in the wilderness to be heard, yell from the mountaintops, shout at this devil that has seized their minds!

I am a man of faith, although I have no faith I follow. There is much wisdom, much truth, such admirable sentiment, writ in tract and in tome, to inspire and to move the soul, the mind and the spirit, whatever your belief or non-belief, that cannot be denied or ignored.

It is the fanatic who becomes so self-obsessed and arrogant that cannot recognise this to be so. And, everywhere, this is so.

The 20th century was a century haunted by dark dictatorships of a political ilk. This 21st century is become, already, a century haunted by dark and blind faith that, relentlessly and without limit, is prepared to inflict its doctrine upon others who do not submit to it.

This we see in these death cultists who have seized the minds of the soft-brained and the hard-hearted. The fierce religion of the Communitarians that preys on the weak and the vulnerable, the life thought not fit for life.

The cult of the Death Pathway and its various denominations - LCP, ICP, DCP, Gold Standards - of whatever ilk they are, demands and rewards the faithful who bring the sacrificial lambs to the slaughter. My language is becoming more emotive, less measured, I know but this MUST stop; the voice of reason must prevail now, else shall we sink into a pit in this, the 21st century, that will make that of the last seem like a pothole.

I am a man of faith, although I have no faith I follow. I am moved by the beauty of language and have always admired the language of the King James translation of the Christian Bible. Do not think it of religious intent, therefore, if I add these words to the clamour raised:

"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?"

Will they fall to the ground like Saul and realise their great error, or will they stand firm in their arrogance, blind to what they do?

Do they not say the Pathway is reversible, they can take their victims off? 

"When Mrs Phillips, 50, repeatedly asked why he was on the LCP, she said she got no answers from staff and was shocked when a nurse eventually offered to try and reverse the pathway after six days."

This Death Pathway is a death sentence, let us make no bones about that!

This 'tool' is a Licence to Kill People.

This is Cambridge News -

Published: 06/03/2013 07:00 - Updated: 05/03/2013 18:33

Family's anguish after dad was starved to death at Addenbrooke's Hospital on Liverpool Care Pathway

Written byRachel Allen

A grieving daughter says her father was treated worse than a dog when he was starved to death on a "barbaric" end of life pathway at Addenbrooke’s.

Robert Goold, hours before his fall

Robert Goold, who had dementia, died after food, water and oxygen were taken away when he was put on the widely criticised Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP).

Susan Phillips and her family say they were left traumatised after they watched the 69-year-old slowly deteriorate for eight days before he eventually died – and they say they had not given consent for him to be placed on the controversial pathway.

They also claim doctors and nurses could not explain why he was on the LCP because there was nothing recorded in his notes.

Mrs Phillips, who is a nurse herself and held a vigil at her father’s bedside, said: "You wouldn’t treat a dog the way my poor dad was treated. We are all devastated, the best interests of the patient was not starving him to death. My mum didn’t even get to say goodbye to her husband of 51 years because she was too traumatised."

Mr Goold was transferred to the neurosciences critical care unit (NCCU) at Addenbrooke’s on February 4 from Lister Hospital in Stevenage after he suffered a bleed on the brain after a fall left him with a fractured neck, back, skull and cheekbone.

His family were told his prognosis was not good and so they wanted to remove his ventilator to see how he responded – giving him the "best chance" at survival.

But a day after he had his ventilation tube taken out  Mrs Phillips came into the hospital to find her dad flailing about trying to breathe with "sheer terror in his eyes" and Mrs Phillips found out he had been placed on LCP.

She said: "My dad was so stressed that we were led to believe death was imminent, and so we just tried to calm dad down."

When Mrs Phillips, 50, repeatedly asked why he was on the LCP, she said she got no answers from staff and was shocked when a nurse eventually offered to try and reverse the pathway after six days.

But Mr Goold, of Fairfield Way, Stevenage, died the following day, at 5.40am on February 25.

Keith McNeil, chief executive at Addenbrooke’s, said an investigation into the family’s formal complaint would be carried out once the coroner’s investigations into a cause of death were complete.

He said: "In this case the fact that an issue has been raised will trigger for us a review of the care a patient has had and we will go through each of the issues that have been raised by the family.

"We will see whether in fact appropriate decisions were made, we will also look at whether the communication of the care to the family was appropriate."

The inquest into Mr Goold’s death will be opened and adjourned today in Huntingdon.