Liverpool Care Pathway - Death By Design

There is a Strategy in place and we are half way there. This is surely death by design and it is active killing.



Lilian Wilcock was admitted to Maelor Hospital in May 2012 with severe pain in her leg. Lilian's GP had prescribed paracetamol but was concerned there might be something more serious amiss such as  a clot or fracture.

This is the Daily Post –

X-rays showed that neither was evident but the pain continued, and she continued to receive paracetamol.

“Why they continued with that when it wasn’t doing any good at all we don’t know,” said her daughter Lynne Edwards.

She was diagnosed with arthritis in the hip and moved to a different ward.

This is not an untreatable condition.

However, Lilian was of an age that her care would be downsized... 

After six days Mrs Wilcock was transferred to Mold without the family being told and it was while she was there that she received an excessive amount of morphine.

She was rushed back to Wrexham and her condition deteriorated rapidly. She died two weeks later.

“She went from playing dominoes and chatting to being continually drowsy. She was a changed lady,” said another daughter, Maria Davies.

Dr Lee told the inquest that although Mrs Wilcock had kidney failure, “opiate toxicity” was also one of the problems and she was given medication to counteract it.

It is inconceivable that the coroner could record a conclusion of death by natural causes, but this was the outcome of the proceedings.

This was Active Killing. This was, at the very least, recordable as death by misadventure. The family have lodged a complaint...

“We are not after compensation but we want to know why our mother was overdosed,” said Mrs Davies.

In a prepared statement the family said: “We have lodged a complaint with the Health Board giving them a detailed catalogue of events and we expressed our concerns, but we fear our concerns will not result in any radical changes to improve the levels of care a patient can expect to receive in hospital.

“We hope no other family will be subjected to similar distressing events as we have been, but we are not hopeful.”

It has become custom to adopt the language of the Review and put it all down to 'miscommunication'...

After the hearing, Angela Hopkins, the health board’s director of nursing and midwifery, said: “We would like to express our deepest sympathies to the family of Mrs Wilcock for their loss.

“We accept that our communication with the family fell short of the high standards we would expect. Good, clear communication is vital to good care. We are working continuously to improve the ways we share information and communicate with patients and their families.”

How can this not be Active Killing...

This is the Mail Online –

Rohan Rhodes was born 14 weeks prematurely at Singleton Hospital in Swansea in August 2012.

Although he was very premature, he got through the critical first few weeks and was doing well in the hospital's neo-natal intensive care unit.

However, a heart duct which usually closes at birth remained open. Doctors said he needed to go to Bristol, which has a specialist children's heart surgery centre, for an operation.

Five weeks after birth he was transferred to St Michael's Hospital - which is in the same trust as Bristol Children's Hospital.

As he was so premature, he needed a ventilator to help fill his lungs with oxygen.

Rohan's parents allege a nurse practitioner looking after their son - who had no authority to withdraw the life-supporting device - turned off the ventilator.

It is understood the nurse who took Rohan off his ventilator received further training following her action - but remains working at the hospital.

She has not been disciplined or reported to the Nursing and Midwifery Council...

It has become custom to adopt the language of the Review and put it all down to miscommunication. Was this 'miscommunication'...?

An inquest will decide upon the circumstances of Rohan's death.

There is a Strategy in place. Are these but random events?

Is this allocation of care according to available resources...?

Harley Pascoe was deemed 'too healthy' for an immediate operation so doctors cancelled a life-saving heart operation five times in a week. Parents Danielle Gatehouse and partner Lee Pascoe, from Fraddon in Cornwall, are now considering legal action over the treatment Harley, who was born with half a heart, received on ward 32 of the hospital. - Mail Online

Allocation of scarce resources in the Communitarian view is not by the most needy or by the patient in front of the physician administering their care but by those who will most benefit. The most frail will have their needs sacrificed for those most viable.

Is this withdrawal of fluids and nutrition on a Care Pathway...?

Sean Turner, 4, was left so dehydrated after heart surgery he was forced to suck liquid from wet wipes.The boy's parents called for a full inquiry after their son died on Ward 32 of Bristol Children's Hospital last year. - Mail Online

From one end of life to the other is being adopted the Communitarian logic of the Complete Lives system. How may this not be otherwise than by design...?

However it is, it is still Active Killing.