Since June, when I last wrote about the deeply distressing case of Archie Battersbee, his ventilator was eventually switched off on 4 August. Soon after, he was declared dead when his heart subsequently stopped beating. In the evidence they gave at the court hearing on […]
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The tragedy of Archie Battersbee
Mrs Justice Arbuthnot’s judgement earlier this month on the tragic case of Archie Battersbee is sobering reading. Her ruling came across to me as kind and thoughtful, and the fact that she took time to visit Archie in hospital for herself speaks highly of her […]
Assisted dying – far better help is available than most realise
Far better help is available for patients in great suffering and distress than many people realise. A CMF member shares two stories she has included in her response to the assisted suicide consultation. Liam McArthur MSP is currently holding a consultation on whether to introduce […]
Has the RCP’s reluctance to issue guidance on fMRI scans for coma patients become indefensible?
In March 2020, the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) in the UK published national guidelines on the management of patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness (PDOC). Those guidelines updated their 2013 guidance, ‘particularly in relation to recent developments in assessment and management, and … changes […]
Capturing the language of (assisted) death
Those promoting the agenda that, in plain speaking, wants the UK to legalise doctors to be able to provide a prescription for a lethal draught with which patients can kill themselves, have a long history of shape-shifting their language. Morphing from the Voluntary Euthanasia Society […]