Liverpool Care Pathway - When Dead Isn't Dead

They can tell when you're dying. They know the signs.
They can tell when you're dying. They know the...
They can tell when... They know...

He fell from the Kessock Bridge in Inverness, one hundred foot into the deep. But he could have jumped.

The Kessock Bridge, like Beachy Head, is a spot favoured by suicides to end their lives and the barrier along the Kessock Bridge would not readily permit someone to just 'fall off'.

The lifeboat set out to attempt a rescue. These brave volunteers, who daily risk their lives to save the lives of others, hauled him from the deep.

On shore, the waiting ambulance crew attempted their very best efforts to revive him. And failed…

Or so they thought.

Mortuary workers at Raigmore Hospital found a pulse. Paramedics rushed, once more, to attempt their very best efforts to revive him. Once more, they failed…

- Mail Online

Last night Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon called for a thorough inquiry to be undertaken and the results made public in full.

'Any death is a tragedy for the family but the circumstances surrounding this death will undoubtedly raise questions as to whether this person could have perhaps survived,' she said.

There is a point of real contention here, if this man was a suicide, as well he might have been but may not have been...

The NHS will be fully digital by 2018. EoL Directives will be on the national computer system, accessible by paramedics.

If ever the Doctor Deaths driving the euthanasia/suicide bandwagons get their way, the focus will be not on reviving and resuscitation but on respecting personal wishes.

Once the euthanasia culture has cosied up and settled in and made itself comfortable and familiar and the concept of respecting someone's desire to end their life has won acceptance, circumstances such as this may present a dilemma to those whose traditional role has been that of the Seventh Cavalry, rushing in to the rescue. That old attitude will be viewed as quaint and outdated.

If someone is clearly a suicide, should not their wishes to end their life be respected...?

Should those brave volunteers in the RNLI rush in and risk their lives when a person has their mind clearly set to end their life...?

Should the NHS waste its precious resources attempting to revive a person whose mind is clearly set to end their life...?

A quandary arises in a circumstance when paramedics with digital access to the £260 million NHS computer system being rolled out are confronted with a 'Living Will' directive. It is their judgement call. That old-fashioned focus has changed. It is no longer a 'Seventh Cavalry' approach. What do they do...?

To respect the right to die is to respect the right to die...

Hello, EoLC...!

- Opposing Views

After being told he was going to die, Templin quit his job, sold his pickup truck, celebrated a "last" birthday,  contemplated suicide and even bought a prearranged funeral service. His son-in-law also constructed a box to hold his ashes.

Mark Templin, a Montana man in his mid-70s, was given six months to live.

He quit his job, spent all his cash and considered suicide...

He sold his pick-up truck, celebrated a "final" birthday, chose his funeral service and even asked his son-in-law to build him a box for his ashes.

He became deeply depressed, regularly broke down into tears and moved into hospice.

He put a "Do Not Resuscitate" notice on his fridge so any 'first responders' would let him die.

But the 2009 diagnosis of brain cancer from doctors at Fort Harrison Medical Center was wrong.

In Court documents, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy wrote that one of Mr. Templin’s daughters asked how her father would die and it was explained to her that “one of the tumours would grow ‘like cauliflower’ and he would die from a brain bleed".

The Independent Record reported that Mr. Templin underwent more tests as he started to feel better.

They revealed he had actually suffered a series of small strokes — meaning he would be around for some time to come.

There is a point of real contention here.

If ever the Doctor Deaths driving the euthanasia/suicide bandwagons get their way, there may be 'facilitators' to assist those such as Mr. Templin to have their personal wishes respected. 

Once the euthanasia culture has cosied up and settled in and made itself comfortable and familiar and the concept of respecting someone's desire to end their life has won acceptance, circumstances such as this may not at all be so unusual...

Even in this world we live, those such as Mr. Templin, faced with a devastating diagnosis and prognosis may determine to end their lives.

Dr. Nitschke, had this man come to you, you would happily have supplied him with the means and he would have departed this world never knowing that even a weather forecast is actually more reliable than a doctor's determination of life expectancy.