LONDON, Aug 12 (LSN) - A group of over 6,000 doctors are set to launch a group called the Medical Ethics Alliance in protest of new guidelines the British Medical Association issued in June which permit the refusal of food and water to patients. The guidelines which have allowed the withdrawal of medical treatments when doctors deem treatment futile have now included nutrition and hydration as treatments subject to withdrawal. According to The Times the new guidelines “effectively dispense with the need forcourt orders before nutrition and hydration by tube are withdrawn from patients in a persistent vegetative state (PVS).” That power would be allowed in “cases involving stroke victims and the confused elderly, even when the patient is not terminally ill.” Where relatives object to the removal of nutrition or hydration a court would decide on the proposed euthanasia. For more see The Times at: http://www.the-times.co.uk./news/pages/tim/99/08/12/timnwshea01003.html?1311510