Britain: Hospitals "fail patients in dying days"

Description:

Poor communication between doctors and between doctors and patients often results in poor end-of-life care in British hospitals, says a report from the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD). In particular, patients were not formally identified as being near the end of life.

Marisa Mason, chief executive of NCEPOD, said: "There were problems in all areas of care but end of life care stood out as a case where things went wrong. There was poor communication with the patients, with the relatives and between the doctors."

"Correctly identifying someone as near the end of life might mean that they were allowed to leave hospital and go home, or that they were given appropriate pain relief or conversely that something could be done to treat them rather than let them die."

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Source:

Laurance, Jeremy. "Hospital staff 'fail patients in dying days'". The Independent. Thursday, 5 November 2009. <www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/hospital-staff-fail-patients-in-dying-days-1814788.html>. The Independent, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5HF, UK.

Tags:

Tags (or keywords) briefly indicate some major topics of the report.

  • end-of-life care

  • hospital

  • Britain

ID:

The EuthaNEWSia ID for this advisory is: enid200911059774.
Mailed: Thursday, November 5, 2009 14:00:46 -0600
at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Etcetera:

EuthaNEWSia is a free Canadian news advisory service covering end-of-life issues such as right to die, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. EuthaNEWSia is produced by the Right to Die Society of Canada which works toward a good death for all, including open, regulated and equitable access to euthanasia and assisted suicide. The editor is Michael Dawson <editor@euthanewsia.ca>. 

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