Sometimes you have to read a press story several times to unpick the gist of it.
An article headed ‘Death wish databases spark fears elderly will be left to die’ had been on my desk for a few weeks, waiting to be read again, and then again, to make sure that I had understood what it was saying. Because I couldn’t believe it the first time.
District nurses’ visits
Last September elderly and disabled people in England were being visited by district nurses with questionnaires looking for answers such as ‘Where would you like to die?’ and ‘Would you want to be resuscitated in a crisis?’. One of my blog readers emailed to tell me that it wasn’t just the elderly who were being targeted. Her disabled son had also been visited and questioned.