Not seen her FB but this is just a load of tit...
I apologise in advance if anyone thinks I am too blunt or is upset!
Ventilators weren't killing patients, by that point it was one of the only options to save these people. Not using them would have certainly led to death and for some quite a distressing death as they felt like they were drowning! Ventilators can sometimes cause a bit of damage in the lungs because of the pressures involved, but everything is done to minimise that whilst making sure enough oxygen is reaching important organs, but without the ventilator, most of those patients would have died much earlier if they sadly didn't survive to come off the ventilator.
As for the DNAR...I've spoken here about their use in elderly and the fact that it is an advance decision for patients to make their wishes clear, whether or not they want CPR, buy ultimately it is a medical decision. Doing CPR on extremely elderly and/or frail patients is actually very traumatic, and for many IF they are brought back, they generally live for quite a short period afterwards and often in a lot of pain due to physical injury from CPR (and potentially with hypoxic brain damage). If an elderly or quite sick patient has a lot of physical reserve and is likely to survive CPR and has a good prognosis, medics would perform CPR unless it was expressed not to previously. A patient at the end of their life is also unlikely to be for ICU organ support as evidence shows a lot of them don't survive ICU and you can create a lot of trauma and delirium, again creating a very distressing period at the end of their life. If a patient is unlikely to survive an ICU stay (with organ support and not just a little extra monitoring post surgery or accident), they probably are not going to survive CPR attempts. CPR is nothing like Holby City and Greys' Anatomy pretends it is!
Older, frail or extremely sick patients also aren't just marked as nil by mouth the minute they come through the door, even if a DNR is in place. If a patient comes in eating and drinking themselves, they will continue to be offered food and drinks. They are not nil by mouth (other than for procedures clearly or intestinal blockages, etc. where it is for good reason) at all. If a patient turns up sick and struggling but some IV fluids and potentially some feeding by drip or tube into their stomach is going to help, then it is done, and they will be fed and hydrated that way until they are eating and drinking again themselves (or for some obviously that feeding method may become longer term). If an elderly or extremely sick patient turns up, clearly at the end of their life, their bodies are beginning to fail and there are tests, etc. to indicate that and they themselves are not eating and drinking, not looking for food or drink, are not distressed by not having food or water, and the aging or disease process means that there isn’t going to a reversal of the organ failure, etc. then their notes may be marked nil by mouth for their own safety. They are withheld because usually by that point there are also issues around swallowing, bowels slowing/stopping, etc. If a patient is lucid and engaging, etc. of course fluids, etc. will be provided as needed, but by the time feeding and fluids are stopped patients are struggling with consciousness, they are not alert, their bodies are failing and they no longer have hunger or thirst. They are not distressed by hunger or thirst. This isn't about withholding them and making someone suffer. This is end stage when the body stops needing and sending signals that it needs food and water, and with evidence that the aging or disease process has done irreversible, end stage damage.
Midazolam wasn't being used to 'kill' either. Most of us at some point will have midazolam given to us. It makes up 'twilight sedation' used for medical and dental procedures that don't require full general anaesthetic. Midazolam is same class of drug as diazepam which most people will have heard of. Midazolam is used in end of life care as it helps make a patient be less anxious and less 'aware' of the reality. End of life care (especially in Covid) can often involve a lot of horrible issues with breathing, pain, etc. This drug was used to try and help relieve some of these symptoms and/or awareness of the symptoms (typically used in combination with other meds). It isn't used to 'kill' but is a standard medication used in palliative care for good reason. I wonder if her and those who listen to her would be happy to sit with a relative at the end of their life, be it cancer, dementia, etc. (not necessarily anything to do with COVID) and for them to have no access to any of those medications and see the fear and distress caused to the patient and/or those around them. I apologise to anyone who has witnessed it, but again, rarely like the movies paint it and those medications allow a more peaceful and dignified passing than without. Yes the government may have stockpiled it early on in the pandemic, but it is because it is known to be used in end of life care, but it is also used in ICU as a drug that can keep people sedated for being on ventilators, etc. Again ventilator & midazolam not causing death, normal practices for extremely ill patients, hoping that supporting them through the worst of a virus will be enough to have them recover!
And she's using authority bias to try and push these lies which is disgusting! "NHS Worker who speaks out" but they are good at leaving out the part about her having no clinical background at all to understand any of what she is saying. No science background, no drug knowledge of a pharmacy assistant, etc. She was a call handler for CareUK that had a contract to provide NHS 111 services...so 'NHS worker' is probably loosely applied. I don't want to offend as obviously 111 provide a necessary service to help manage urgent care in the UK, but the training seems to be anywhere from 2-12 weeks depending on the company providing the services from a quick Google and is all based on computer algorithms prompting what to ask, when to ask for clinical input and then computer/clinician deciding on outcome. Again, no disrespect as important at helping manage urgent care, and some people are no doubt brilliant at their job and care about what they do, etc. but it is a job that still does not give her any understanding of health or NHS processes beyond what 111 can offer from their call centre.
literally 12 minutes of bollocks
www.bbc.co.uk
). For many of them their botox and fillers wouldn't exist, nevermind anything more invasive.
