Liverpool Care Pathway - Who Possess No Moral Humility Possess No Moral Restraint

They kill because they care. They kill because they can. The caring killers, they kill because it is their absolute belief that this is their absolute right.



They kill because they have no moral humility to guide them with restraint.

Consider these sentiments….

In regard to the elderly, frail and in poor general health, either close to death or very ill -

   It is not in their best interests to 'keep them going'.

   It was 'for the best' that the patient should have died.

   It was better that 'she should not suffer'.

   The patient would not have wanted to 'live in a wheelchair',

   or 'be a vegetable',

   or have to stay in hospital 'with wires coming out of her',

   or 'be a burden to her family'.

   If they were animals, they would be put down.

Are these sentiments not worthy and in accordance with the humanitarian and enlightened approach expounded by the stoutest proponents of euthanasia and assisted suicide?

That last comment might appear overly blunt or insensitive, but it is one that has been commonly expressed by respondents on the subject in on-line newspaper letter columns.

These sentiments are, in fact, those expressed by Dr.Harold Shipman.

I thought that people weren't suffering any more. I thought I was helping.         

-  Charles Cullen on CBS  60 Minutes

The Shipman Care Pathway

These sentiments would not  be found so unfitting or unworthy but, rather, be in accordance with the humanitarian and enlightened approach expounded by the stoutest proponents of the Liverpool Care Pathway.

That last comment might appear overly blunt or insensitive, but it is one that has been commonly expressed by respondents on the subject in on-line newspaper letter columns. Do these people think they can really go on living forever? For heaven's sake, let's be sensible and start talking EoLC here...

The Independent reported -

The caring killers: Death by night shift

For years, nurses illegally administered morphine and other powerful drugs. Hospital patients died. Now the story can be told. Nina Lakhani reports

The report reveals that night nurses at the hospital in Keighley, West Yorkshire, openly gave patients drugs such as morphine intravenously for many years, despite the practice being illegal.

A showcase hospital that won the Government's highest three-star rating allowed nurses to prescribe illegally and administer powerful drugs which police believe killed three patients and injured many more.

A damning report into "systemic failures" at the Airedale NHS Trust reveals that night nurses at the hospital in Keighley, West Yorkshire, openly gave patients drugs such as morphine intravenously for many years, despite the practice being illegal and against hospital rules.

Nobody has ever faced trial or been struck off as a result. One nurse at the heart of the inquiry, Sister Anne Grigg-Booth, was charged with three murders, one attempted murder and more than a dozen lesser, related charges but died of an overdose in 2005 before the case came to trial. Her death meant the allegations against her were never tested. No motive has ever been suggested for her actions.

NNPs took verbal orders for medicines from doctors over the phone to save them coming to the ward. They also administered morphine and other opiates intravenously. Neither was allowed under hospital or professional regulations. Grigg-Booth, and at times other NNPs, also prescribed opiates such as pethidine and diamorphine for patients. This was risky and unlawful as they can hasten or cause death.

The doctors were complicit also, but it was the Night Nurse Practitioners who were charged.

These are the caring killers -

Mail Online

This is the Cullen Care Pathway -

Mail Online

This is the Liverpool Care Pathway. These are the Angels of Death -

Mail Online

Can it be true? It is very nearly a century ago that, in Flanders fields -

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

It is a century has passed, in the blink of an eye, and the dead in Flanders fields raise up their shout. Once more, Flanders fields are killing fields.

'Life-ending acts' without explicit request are proceeding in Flanders, but performed more often in hospital and by clinical specialists. [CMAJ]

In cases where the decision had not been discussed with the patient, the physician specified as reason(s) that the patient was comatose (70.1% of cases) or had dementia (21.1%); in 40.4% of cases, the physician indicated that the patient had previously expressed a wish for ending life (not equivalent to an explicit request for euthanasia). Physicians specified that the decision had not been discussed with the patient because the decision was in the patient’s best interest (17.0%) or because discussion would have been harmful (8.2%).

Compared with drugs used in euthanasia and assisted suicide, opioids are used far more often in the ending of life without an explicit patient request, especially when used as the sole drug. In these cases, the dosage is strongly increased in the last 24 hours in 45.8%, and the physician indicated it to be higher than needed to alleviate the patient’s symptoms in 46.8%. Nurses were more often involved in the administration of the drugs when there was no explicit request from the patient than in cases of euthanasia or assisted suicide.

This is also the Liverpool Care Pathway. Opioids are used without a specific patient request and decisions are not discussed with the patient.

These are the Angels of Death, not humbled nor restrained, but enamoured by their arrogance.