AIBU to ask your opinion on whether babies & children are being denied life saving treatment by the NHS?

[MiniTheMinx]

I expect lots of people have heard recently in the press about something called the Liverpool care pathway. If you haven't, it basically entails the withdrawal of drugs, fluid and life supportive measures to people who are at the end of life but controversially also includes people who have had strokes who would survive but need huge levels of care.

Now sick babies go on death pathway: Doctor's haunting testimony reveals how children are put on end-of-life plan.

Until now, end of life regime the Liverpool Care Pathway was thought to have involved only elderly and terminally-ill adults.But the Mail can reveal the practice of withdrawing food and fluid by tube is being used on young patients as well as severely disabled newborn babies. One doctor has admitted starving and dehydrating ten babies to death in the neonatal unit of one hospital alone

Writing in a leading medical journal, the physician revealed the process can take an average of ten days during which a baby becomes ?smaller and shrunken

Are babies being denied life saving treatment? Or are they only being denied life prolonging treatment? Do fluids constitute life prolonging treatment? or are fluids as with oxygen a natural and necessary requirement of life and should never be denied?

Sorry it's the mail but I picked it up this morning because this is on the front page. [NOTE ADDED BY MNHQ: some posters, particularly bereaved parents, may find the contents of this article distressing]www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2240075/Now-sick-babies-death-pathway-Doctors-haunting-testimony-reveals-children-end-life-plan.html

My mum had a syringe driver in the last week. She never had any pain in her short illness (cancer) but had terrible terminal anxiety. They just kept upping the morphine to a ridiculous amount until she finally zonked out into unconsciousness. We don't know if the huge amounts of morphine was poisoning her system and causing the anxiety or if it was just her natural reaction to what was happening to her. As I said, this is my only experience of this.

Here here expat

My mum died in April. For want of a better description, she was on the LCP in the last month. Her brain was dying but her body wasn't. We stopped forcing her to eat or drink (in fact, she choked when trying to swallow liquids) - and just maintained the moisture in her mouth.

I know that was at the other end of "life" to the story in the OP, but mum was loved by all and this was the right decision for her. In the same way, young children are loved and everyone - both the parents and the professionals trying to help - are doing their best to do the right thing by the child. My dad used to work as a doctor at a children's hospital - I know how much he cared.