|
SOS-NHS - Patients in Danger |
|
|
|
|
Apparently unaware of current hospital practice, the judges declared (para 34): "It seems to us that for a doctor deliberately to interrupt life-prolonging treatment in the face of a competent patient's expressed wish to be kept alive, with the "intention of thereby terminating the patient's life, would leave the doctor with no answer to a charge of murder." SOS-NHS - Patients in Danger has records of a number of variations on this scenario, sent by bereaved families, such as 'May 1 have a cup of tea?' followed only by sedation. Outside the Law Courts on 28th July one of their members, dressed as the Grim Reaper, held up a placard saying "SEDATE - DEHYDRATE - ELIMINATE." This part of the judgment, theoretically, gives them ground for recourse to the law. However, a very recent attempt to persuade the police to investigate a tragic death failed, like many previous ones, due to their deference to hospital doctors. "The Appeal Court decision has created a dual system of justice, one for people who can speak for themselves and another for those who can't." Wesley J. Smith
|