Patients and their families were not consulted. The CQC inquiry shows that their trust should never be taken for granted
As patients, we literally surrender our bodies and minds into our doctors’ hands. We could not be more vulnerable. For a clinician to exploit this power in any way at all is monstrous, an affront to decency.
No one is suggesting that any of the medics who, since March last year, signed more than 500 “do not resuscitate” (more accurately, “do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation”) forms without first discussing the matter with the patients or their families had any intention of shortening life. But when you possess the power to save, prolong, shorten or end life – as all doctors, in theory, do – then it is essential for your integrity and professionalism to measure up to your patients’ faith in you. Your motives and values should be irreproachable.
Related: Any Covid inquiry must help us ‘fix the roof’ before the next pandemic hits | Charlotte Summers
Rachel Clarke is a palliative care doctor and author of Breathtaking: Inside the NHS in a Time of Pandemic
Continue reading…This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.