Maeve Boothby O'Neill - articles about her life, death and inquest

Trish said:
I'm sorry you and your family suffered that treatment, Arnie Pye.
According to this article the Liverpool Care Pathway was abolished in 2013, largely it seems because they realised depriving dying people of fluids was cruel.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jul/15/liverpool-care-pathway-independent-review
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I watched my Grandpa die just last month, in exactly the way the Liverpool pathway is described. This is in a big well known hospital here. His food was withdrawn first, even though he was at the time still able to swallow/eat small amounts. He was drinking a bottle of fortisip at a time, although he was unwell, but still they withdrew it and put him on nil by mouth. Later, as he deteriorated for several days without any food (and we were continually asking the nurses / doctors if they would actually feed him some other way), they kept fobbing us off and told us he was “very old”, and gave us the sponge with sticks. And then they withdrew water IV too, and we watched him waste away to a living skeleton state in front of our eyes.

In the end all of us - his family - knew that it was not his cancer that killed him, but starvation and dehydration that killed him quickly. At the time nothing was explained to us and they never told us what they were doing or why. So yes hospitals still do this to some patients. :( :( it is the worst thing I have ever witnessed.
 
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Binkie4 said:
I'm wondering what evidence Dr Shenton will give when she responds to the written questions posed to her by the coroner at Maeve's inquest.

What she writes will depend on the questions asked- unless she wishes to introduce her own perspective beyond that requested by the coroner. Will she be allowed to do this?

Do we know what questions the coroner has posed to Dr Shenton?

Dr Shenton presumably has views on how her patient was treated/ not treated in the hospital, and on Dr Weir's advice on treatment. Will she be asked to or choose to comment on this. Sarah ( I think it was Sarah) has already said what Dr Shenton said to her about Maeve's treatment.
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I’m confused - I thought there was already something from her? Faint memory of discussion of how she corrected the line ‘worst I’ve ever seen a patient treated’ like

is there more to come from this?
 
lunarainbows said:
I watched my Grandpa die just last month, in exactly the way the Liverpool pathway is described. This is in a big well known hospital here. His food was withdrawn first, even though he was at the time still able to swallow/eat small amounts. He was drinking a bottle of fortisip at a time, although he was unwell, but still they withdrew it and put him on nil by mouth. Later, as he deteriorated for several days without any food (and we were continually asking the nurses / doctors if they would actually feed him some other way), they kept fobbing us off and told us he was “very old”, and gave us the sponge with sticks. And then they withdrew water IV too, and we watched him waste away to a living skeleton state in front of our eyes.

In the end all of us - his family - knew that it was not his cancer that killed him, but starvation and dehydration that killed him quickly. At the time nothing was explained to us and they never told us what they were doing or why. So yes hospitals still do this to some patients. :( :( it is the worst thing I have ever witnessed.
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I’m so sorry, that’s awful :hug:
 
bobbler said:
I’m confused - I thought there was already something from her? Faint memory of discussion of how she corrected the line ‘worst I’ve ever seen a patient treated’ like

is there more to come from this?
Click to expand...

I remember Sarah commenting on what Dr Shenton said to her but I am more interested in how she responded to the coroner's questions....and what they were.
I too remember a bit of a sense of disappointment at something that was later attributed to Dr Shenton. Perhaps she did retract her earlier comment? My memory of the inquest is fading and I fear being too hopeful about 27th Sept.
 
Binkie4 said:
I remember Sarah commenting on what Dr Shenton said to her but I am more interested in how she responded to the coroner's questions....and what they were.
I too remember a bit of a sense of disappointment at something that was later attributed to Dr Shenton. Perhaps she did retract her earlier comment? My memory of the inquest is fading and I fear being too hopeful about 27th Sept.
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Yes Dr Shenton gave written replies which were covered on the last day of the inquest hearing.
 
MrMagoo said:
Yes Dr Shenton gave written replies which were covered on the last day of the inquest hearing.
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Thank you @MrMagoo. My memory has erased all but a faint trace of that. i think I was looking for something to be hopeful about but in the process clinging on to straws. I am feeling rather gloomy today after the encouragement of the LBC and BBC Breakfast programmes.
 
Binkie4 said:
Thank you @MrMagoo. My memory has erased all but a faint trace of that. i think I was looking for something to be hopeful about but in the process clinging on to straws. I am feeling rather gloomy today after the encouragement of the LBC and BBC Breakfast programmes.
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It was a bit disappointing so I wouldn’t bother searching it out. It was very “the whole system isn’t geared towards ME” very restrained and nothing explosive.

I am hoping the 27th September brings something up about the need for systemic changes, I’m hoping there is a Prevention of Future Deaths report but that’s my heart leading. My head is preparing me for disappointment.
 
The original list of questions was compiledby Sean O'Neill the week before the Inquest, when Sarah and Neil were informed that Dr Shenton was not going to be well enough to attend the court.

The coroner reviewed the list of questions to be sure they were appropriate. Most of the discussion about finalising the list seemed to take place in court before the online participants were allowed in to the session.
 
Trish said:
I'm sorry you and your family suffered that treatment, Arnie Pye.
According to this article the Liverpool Care Pathway was abolished in 2013, largely it seems because they realised depriving dying people of fluids was cruel.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/jul/15/liverpool-care-pathway-independent-review
Click to expand...
I don’t have a medical or eugenicist education. So I innately know this. For all my faults I am not evil I don’t think, so I wouldn’t wish to dehydrate anyone to death.

So it is a real shame that medical professionals needed to keep on and do this for a long time. Then had to have a review to tell them it’s best not to torture their dying patients.

You can see why disabled people might have a difficult time persuading medical professionals of this ideological position to keep us alive to treat to alleviate our suffering and help us thrive.

Maybe this examination of feeding and non feeding in healthcare leads to the heart and stomach of the non treatment paradigm. Maybe this is where we should focus our attention from now onwards.
 
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Yes, me too. I got in touch with the Coroner's Office and was told that the prior Teams link should be used to gain access.
No other information such as time was offered. Previously we were asked to be online for 9.50am for a 10am start, with phone and camera off.
If anyone gets any information about time, please can you post it.
 
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