Politics
Thursday January 11, 2007
Coroner Rules Norfolk Grandmother “Not Starved” after 16 Days on ¼ Starvation Diet
Family not satisfied and seeking legal advice on how to proceed
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By Hilary White
NORWICH, January 11, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Norwich district coroner William Armstrong has ruled after an inquest that Olive Nockels of Holt, Norfolk, did not die of starvation or dehydration. Her family, however, are not satisfied and are seeking legal advice on how to proceed.
“My judgment is that her long mortal life had run its course. There was no evidence treatment and care in hospital made her death unnatural,” Armstrong said. “The evidence points clearly and unequivocally to the conclusion that Olive died as a result of a stroke from which there was no realistic chance of recovering.”
Ivy West, Mrs. Nockels’ daughter said, “We are seeking legal guidance on whether the coroner's comments about the General Medical Council's guidelines were legally correct.”
Mrs. Nockels, a 91 year-old former school matron, died October 10, 2003 while in the care of Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital after she suffered a stroke.
The inquest was told that Mrs. Nockels’ IV drip provided only 140 calories a day for 16 days, only a quarter of the minimum daily caloric intake specified by the World Health Organisation as a short-term starvation diet. The hospital claims that the drip was stopped when Mrs. Nockels developed oedema, a build-up of excess fluid in the body, and could no longer process fluids.
The Times Online quotes her grandson, Christopher West, who said, “Immediately after her admission it became clear it was their intention not to treat her. The only thing that was said most of the time, as the weeks went on, was that she hadn’t died yet.”
Mr. West said that doctors told him that his grandmother’s “quality of life” would be so poor that “it would be in her best interests not to intervene and let her die”.
Although consultant geriatrician Brian Payne testified that she had been “confused” when he examined her and had not responded to his questions, Mrs. Nockels’ relatives denied that she was incoherent. They said she had asked them for tea, beetroot sandwiches and macaroni and cheese.
Ivy West, said, “I talked to her every day. She would tell me she was cold and that she wanted something to eat.”
The family obtained a court order to force doctors to provide food and hydration and to stop administering the powerful sedative drug diamorphine, which, they said, left her overly sedated.
The hospital appealed the decision and the ruling was changed to say nutrition and hydration were to be reinstated only “as far as medically possible”. Mrs. Nockels died four days after the halting of the IV drip.
There is growing concern among anti-euthanasia activists about the direction being taken in UK hospitals with policies regarding the administration of nutrition and hydration.
In 2005, Mr. Leslie Burke, a former postman who suffers from a degenerative neurological disease, lost a legal battle with the British government to obtain guarantees that he would not be starved and dehydrated to death when his illness rendered him unable to speak or swallow.
Recently released guidelines by the British government on the implementation of the new Mental Capacity Act say that doctors who refuse to allow mentally incapacitated patients to die by withholding hydration could face criminal assault charges.
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Euro Court Refuses To Guarantee Ill British Man Won't Be Dehydrated to Death
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06080903.html
UK Doctors Face Jail if They Refuse to Euthanize Patients
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/nov/06112102.html
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