Woman begs for a cup of tea....

[InsaneApache]

In a statement to William Armstrong, the coroner, Mrs West said her mother had begged her for something to eat and drink, or a cup of tea, but the request was refused by a nurse, on the doctor’s orders. Her last days were spent with her false teeth and hearing aid removed from her bedside, in a cold hospital room.

She was admitted on September 14, 2003, after a suspected stroke.After two weeks Dr Maisey allegedly told Mrs West that he was surprised her mother was still alive and said that if the family intervened, he would have them arrested.

link

I have no set opinion on euthanasia, I would take each case on it's merits and circumstances. However this does seem a cruel and barbaric way of assisting someones death. If I was part of her family, I would have told the doctor to get the police and do their worst. Shameful.

We need to get our act together and decide where we are going with the issue of euthanasia. This is not how it should be done, if done at all. Put it this way, if I'd acted in this manner to my dog I would expect to face the full majesty of the law.

[Banquo's Ghost]

I am almost speechless with horror.

I remember how emotionally unstable I was when my own mother was dying in hospital (where she received only the highest standard of care) and had she begged me to help her in such circumstances I doubt if I could have answered for my actions towards a doctor like Maisey. Yes, the police would have been needed.

To draw back from the horror of the situation reported and to examine the principle of euthanasia, I have to say I have long been in favour of it. I would go further - I have never seen why a rational adult cannot be allowed to procure the means to end their life easily and without censure.

As our population ages, and quality of life diminishes in many cases, there should be the option for the simple choice to let go, at a time one chooses, in a gentle manner. The comparison with vets is not an unequal one - we gift our pets the opportunity to go to sleep peacefully when their time is done, and people are frowned upon when they are too emotionally attached to let a suffering pet die. Why is this? Is it just because the religious have decided Tiddles has no soul?

There must of course be checks and balances for those not in a position to make decisions for themselves. To this end, every adult should be required to produce a living will detailing their preferences, so that families are spared the emotional trauma of having to make those decisions. In addition, full medical support should be given to the incapacitated if they choose to try to live. (There is a challenge inherent in that latter position, which is that modern medicine can keep alive a person who is to all intents and purposes, a mere breathing corpse, but nonetheless, choice means choice and we shoud be prepared to pay for treatment for someone who chooses life, however miserable).

I would like to end my life at a time of my choosing (should accidents not intervene) and gently, with dignity, with time to prepare any who should care about me. I have no fear of death or the oblivion it brings - and I enjoy life immensely, and would not bear to see those memories and experiences to come washed away by an inexorable tide of dribble and incontinence. I don't see why I should be shackled to the morality espoused by 'sanctity of life' advocates, invariably religious, when I don't share their views.

[AntiochusIII]

Wait, let me get this straight: the doctors refuse necessities to a patient capable of asking for them, and a family demanding for them for the patient?

WTF?

[Husar]

I am almost speechless with horror.

I remember how emotionally unstable I was when my own mother was dying in hospital (where she received only the highest standard of care) and had she begged me to help her in such circumstances I doubt if I could have answered for my actions towards a doctor like Maisey. Yes, the police would have been needed.

You know, this Maisey may have needed the coroner earlier than my mom.

[Ja'chyra]

As this was done without the consent of the patient or family it sounds like murder to me.

[Shaun]

As this was done without the consent of the patient or family it sounds like murder to me.

Yes, technically it would be murder.

[yesdachi]

if the family intervened, he would have them arrested.

Maybe after he picked his jaw up off the floor. KA-POW!

[Vladimir]

Wow, someone’s going to jail (I hope). So, the hospital refused to feed this woman despite a court order? It sounds like if anything, the police would have enforced the court order and not arrested the family. I thought Shiavo(?) was a mess here, I hope you guys have fun with *this* one. What a crazy doctor.

[Geoffrey S]

Disgusting. The article makes it quite clear that the hospital staff refused nutrition despite the requests of both a lucid patient and relatives, and a court decision.

[TB666]

I thought Shiavo(?) was a mess here

Well Shiavo(sp??) wasn't really a mess, her husband had the right and he decided. Fair and legal.
In this case however the ones that did have the right wanted treatment but was denied by the doctor.
Really an awful story.
I don't think doctors should have such a right unless during extreme circumstances which this case doesn't seem to be.

[BDC]

On the other hand if she had chocked to death on a piece of food would that be murder too?

[spmetla]

No but at least it beats starving to death over the course of several days.