Failure to euthanize could become criminal in Britain

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MESSAGE: So you are a nurse who feels that to starve/dehydrate someone to death (by not being able to offer any liquids/foods by mouth) is wrong, is murder, is unethical... not only can you be fired/lose your license, but now also be charged with criminal activities?

Natural death involves offering the person what that person can take, in small amounts, until that person's body can no longer assimilate it. Ice chips, pureed foods, thickened liquids, etc. Tube feeding, perhaps. But NEVER ceasing all liquids/foods while the person's body can still utilize it!!

I guess I would be in jail/prison.

My mother will not be starved/dehydrated to death by anyone. Ever.

And it is why I will have a Will to LIVE, not a 'living will'!

God bless.

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ARTICLE TITLE: Failure to euthanize could become criminal in Britain

ARTICLE: Nov. 22 (LifesiteNews.com/CWN) - Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor of England, has warned doctors that they may face prison sentences if they refuse to starve and dehydrate patients to death. Criminal charges of assault could be laid against doctors or nurses who refuse to allow patients to die, even by removal of food and hydration tube.

The Labor government this week unveiled its new guidelines for doctors to follow the Mental Capacity Act that is to come into effect next spring. The guidelines instruct doctors that a patient's 'advanced decision'-- what is often called a "iving will"-- that includes a request for cessation of medical treatment must be followed even if it means the patient will die. To fail to do so-- in other words, to take action to keep a patient alive-- could result in criminal charges or heavy fines.

The government's guidelines instruct doctors, "If you are satisfied that an advance decision exists which is valid and applicable, then not to abide by it could lead to a legal claim for damages or a criminal prosecution for assault."

British courts, in conjunction with jurisdictions around the world, have determined that it is sometimes in the patient's best interest to be dehydrated to death by removal of feeding and hydration tubes. In many parts of the world, providing food and hydration is considered "medical treatment" and as such can be, and frequently is, withheld on the grounds that it constitutes "extraordinary treatment."

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http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=47791

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