[Hary]

GP 'admits hastening' dying patients' deaths

Page last updated at 11:24 GMT, Saturday, 19 June 2010 12:24 UK




Dr Howard Martin told the Daily Telegraph he acted out of "Christian compassion"

A GP cleared of murdering three patients five years ago has admitted to a newspaper that he did hasten the deaths of people in his care.
Dr Howard Martin told the Daily Telegraph he acted out of "Christian compassion" for patients' dignity.
The now retired County Durham GP was struck off on Friday by the General Medical Council for giving excessive morphine doses to 18 dying patients.
Durham Police said it was considering whether to reopen its investigation.
Friday's GMC disciplinary panel found he had not acted negligently, but it did say he had "violated the rights of the terminally ill" and the 75-year-old was struck off for "completely unacceptable" treatment of some patients.
It said Dr Howard had acted on the "scantiest of evidence" of unbearable pain.

[Hary]

Давно меня мучает эта тема. Для нечитающих по-английски: участкового врача привлекают к ответственности за эвтаназию умиравших в невыносимых мучениях больных.

BBC News - GP 'admits hastening' dying patients' deaths

В Голландии, кажется, эвтаназия допускается законом. Остальной мир не признает её, опасаясь злоупотреблений по отношению к богатым или просто надоевшим родственникам, как я понимаю. Но ведь речь идет не о праве усыпить здоровую тетушку. А о тех, кто давно и мучительно страдает.

[Hary]

My father had no intention of dying'



Paul Gittins was wrongly told by Dr Martin his father's cancer had spread A retired family doctor has been struck off the medical register after giving excessively high doses of morphine to 18 patients.
Among them was 74-year-old oesophageal cancer sufferer Harry Gittins who died on 22 January 2004.
In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Dr Howard Martin said: "I told him I could make him comfortable at home and that's what he wanted. That was his choice. I did shorten his life."
But Mr Gittins could have gone on to recover had Dr Martin not intervened with 200mg of diamorphine, a General Medical Council hearing was told.
Mr Gittins's son, Paul, has now spoken of his shock at hearing his father was going to die.
"My dad was not in any pain and discomfort that day. There was no reason for him [Dr Martin] to do what he did," he told the BBC.
"My dad had no intention of wanting to die, definitely not. I never thought for one minute that Dad was going to die," he said.
"I'd picked him up from hospital on the Friday, he'd walked to the car well. He was in fine spirits, he was actually really good.
"I went into shock when he said he was going to die."
Hospital visit He described how Dr Martin had arrived at his parents' home in Newton Aycliffe in County Durham, early in the morning, just as his father was preparing to go into hospital for dehydration.
"My mam wanted him to go into hospital and Dr Martin said 'No he'll stay here - he's my patient. I know exactly what to do with him," he told BBC News.
The doctor then gave him a dose of morphine which left him unconscious for the rest of the day, said Mr Gittins.
That evening the doctor returned to say his father would die that night, he added.
"He said 'I've had a letter from the hospital to say your dad's riddled with cancer. I haven't got it with me - it's on my laptop and your dad's going to die.'"
Dr Martin told the Telegraph he "shortened" Harry Gittins' life The GMC hearing heard the family were wrongly told the cancer had spread.
Further doses were administered that evening and Harry Gittins died the next day.
At a six-week trial the following year, Dr Martin was cleared of murdering Mr Gittins with morphine overdoses.
The prosecution at Teesside Crown Court alleged he had administered huge doses of powerful painkilling drugs with the intention of killing.
But the defence argued that the prosecution had failed to prove the doses of morphine and diamorphine had killed him, nor had the Crown proved Dr Howard knew exactly what effects the drugs would have.
Dr Martin was also found not guilty of murdering Stanley Weldon, 74, of Coundon Grange, and Frank Moss, 59, of Eldon, Co Durham.
On Friday, a disciplinary panel for the General Medical Council found Dr Martin had not acted negligently but had "violated the rights of the terminally ill".
Paul Gittins told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he hoped the police would reinvestigate his father's death using fresh evidence from the coroners' court and the GMC hearing.

[ВампИра]

А в чём вопрос? Я лично за эвтаназию. Чем мучить других и мучаться самой... Если бы можно было, пока ты в уме и здравии дать такое разрешение, что в случае чего, не надо из меня делать растение, колите не стесняйтесь, я бы его подписала. Хоть сегодня.

[Hary]

Злоупотребления, понимаешь... наследства... вражда...Потом, вот видишь, во второй заметке этот врач отправил на тот свет старика, хоть и с онкологией, но тот не думал помирать, не намучился еще достаточно, собирался домой, в этот день болей у него не было.

[stepanenko-raisa]

Хари! Мне кажется, что это не такой простой вопрос. Да он и не кажется, наверно, никому простым. Человеку всегда хочется жить, и в любом возрасте, и при любых болезнях - еще пожить...И, наверно, даже если он знает, что болен неизлечимо - все равно надеется на чудо. Хотя... может быть я и не права, люди разные. Ведь бывает, что люди кончают свою жизнь самоубийством не зная как им жить дальше из-за каких-то своих горестей и несчастий...Но все-таки , в основном , люди хотят жить. Я тоже часто думаю об этом. Наверно, если человек страдает и жизнь окружающих превращает в страдания, то лучше принять такое решение. Но это легко нам сейчас говорить...

[сона]

Не все должно быть подвластно человеку. Слишком все он хочет контролировать. И рождение и смерть.. И такая опасная вещь это...