Doctors playing god with lives

Jan 22 2006 By Sunday Mercury

New figures reveal that 3,000 patients were helped to die y doctors rea!ing the law in
the "# last year, and $%2,000 people had their deaths accelerated y &edics' Midland
()*+ ,+- accuses &edics of playing .od with people/s lives'
*01 star! realities of life and death in the N0S were revealed last wee!' New research
showed that ending life unethically was co&&on practice a&ongst &any doctors' Not too
long ago ) was an idealistic 2unior doctor, fresh fro& &edical school and eager to provide
the est possile treat&ent for &y patients'
+fter all, ) wanted to save lives to the est of &y aility' But as ti&e passed, ) learned the
shoc!ing reality of health professionals with a taste for playing .od'
My idealistic values have little place in today/s N0S' 0ospitals are so under3staffed and
under3funded that they eco&e treat&ent factories condoning a /survival of the fittest/
policy' *he elderly, disaled, confused 3 those who are least ale to for& a rapport with
doctors 3 eco&e an intolerale urden on an over3stretched '
Before long, a consultant will &a!e the decision to withdraw treat&ent in their /est
interests/' *he decision is actually ased on an assess&ent of the patient/s 4uality of life
versus the potential resource consu&ption' "nfortunately, the assess&ent is rarely either
detailed or o2ective' Doctors are so usy and tired that they &a!e su2ective decisions
influenced y their own culture, upringing and opinions'
)f the patient/s condition does not per&it a 4uality of life that the doctor would personally
find acceptale, it is assu&ed that the life is not worth living and treat&ent is withdrawn'
Do Not (esuscitate 5DN(6 decisions are e4uated with stopping asic care, , active
treat&ent, withholding treat&ent and prescriing with a side3effect of decreasing
respiration' *hese decisions are often un!nown to relatives'
) hear the 2ustification of /est interests/ echoed through every N0S ward' ) often turn
away and wonder how death could possily e considered in the patient/s /est interest/'
7learly, the N0S today lac!s hu&anity, integrity and the aility to care aout the &ost
vulnerale &e&ers of society' *he si&ple concept of assisting the ill and frail has een
lost in favour of alance sheets, targets and star ratings'
0ow &uch is a life worth8
+s a 2unior doctor, ) found this appalling situation i&possile to accept' ) eca&e a
doctor not to end lives, ut to save the&, and to help patients &a!e their own choices'
)nstead, during &y ti&e in general &edicine, ) spent &any sleepless nights agonising over
the decisions &ade y consultants, rac!ed with guilt at eing an unwilling part of this
unethical decision3&a!ing process' ) often felt that their ehaviour as doctors was nothing
&ore than involuntary &anslaughter'
*he practice has gone on for decades, passed on as accepted practices fro& one
generation of doctors to another 3 so &uch so that there is a sense of indifference towards
the si&ple values of patient care'
Just as lives can e ended covertly, so si&ilar &ethods can e used to save the&' 7lever
under3cover &edicine is so&ething that &any doctors do to thwart a consultant/s deadly
decisions'
,atients are transferred to other estalish&ents 4uic!ly efore DN(s ta!e effect,
&edication reinstated and given in one3off doses efore the consultant has ti&e to notice'
,erhaps &y &ost rewarding e9perience was the sight of an elderly lady sitting up in ed
and putting on her lipstic! 2ust two wee!s after a consultant had written her off'
:Doctor, do ) loo! pretty8: she as!ed'
) s&iled, hiding &y !nowledge of &y colleague/s decision to let her die' :;ou loo!
fantastic and not a day over 60,: ) told her'
Saving lives &ust always e the doctor/s first role'