Re: The Alfie Evans case has proven we have to change the law in favour of parents
Originally Posted by
AnnieS
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My emotions stem from the medics "owning" you once you become too weak to fight your corner. This happened to OH where he was a prisoner in a MH unit. It was an awful place and there was no way for me to move him to a better facility once he was in there. They forced him to have ECT against his will and I could do nothing to stop it. This happens to people every day and the system stops you from doing anything.
Most people don't think about it because the system does not become apparent until you end up lost in it when something awful happens. People do not plan for such catastrophes.
Now I understand why you feel as you do. Sounds like you've had a bad, and painful experience which fortunately I haven't had.
My story is the opposite.
My mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer on New Years Eve 1999, so we brought her home. She refused treatment and wanted nature to takes it course.
Her decision to refuse treatment and we , none of us, tried to talk her out of it and just took each day as it came of the estimated 3 to 6 months left to live.
After 8 months, the breakthrough pain became chronic pain and she seriously declined and we hit the intravenous morphine stage with variable levels of lucidity. She'd had oral thrush, shingles and finally developed a chest infection. She was growing weaker unable to battle too much.
Our GP took me and my sister aside and asked us what we wanted to do. At the time that threw me a bit as I'd expected her to tell us what she was going to do. Instead she explained that mum could be given antibiotics to try to deal with the infection ... or instead withhold them and increase her morphine levels.
It was clear what she was saying, or it seemed so to me and my sister. After a weighted silence we asked her not to treat the chest infection. Did she agree with this? She said in her opinion, given mum's outlook ... yes.
Mum passed away a couple of days later.
I had the good fortune to have an understanding GP who thought of all of us. To this day I'm not sure where the GP, or any of us, stood legally on that but in my heart I still thank her even though I felt I'd colluded at passing a death sentence.