Gosport War Memorial Hospital Cover-up

Dear All,

    We have requested that the Prime Minister creates:
    a law which states that caring professionals alone do not have
    the legal right to start a patient on drugs which are included
    in the Liverpool care pathway without the consent of either the
    patient or the next of kin.

    Drugs used in the Liverpool Care Pathway have been under much
    speculation. Although an audit of Care of the Dying, by the
    Marie Curie and the Royal College of Physicians in 2010 found
    that nearly 4000 terminal patients found the framework to be of
    high quality, there is no doubt that some patients remain at
    risk. There is room in current practice for elderly, vulnerable
    patients to be started on the LCP without their or their
    family’s consent; it is not good enough to assume that in all
    hospitals, hospices and care homes that conversations will take
    place and that patients and families will be kept informed. The
    audit reveals that two thirds of the 3,893 patients whose
    deaths were assessed needed no continuous infusion of
    medication, and all by 4% only needed low doses of opiates.

    However, here ALL patients were started on high doses of opiates and
    sedatives via infusion and died prematurely. We shouldn’t have to
    fight for justice after death; the law should be there to
    protect us when we are alive.

I will update details once approved by Downing Street.