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Death is no longer just in the hands of god or fate, but often a decision

BMJ 2018; 361 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k2217 (Published 22 May 2018) Cite this as: BMJ 2018;361:k2217

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Re: Death is no longer just in the hands of god or fate, but often a decision

I am glad that our medical colleagues listened to Mary Black and her mother and came to a decision driven by patient wishes and not the seemingly constant drive to do things just because we can. In the fine nuances of end of life decision making this was allowing death to happen and not causing it. The distinction is important on a number of levels.
Disappointing is that Mary Black felt herself to be in the position of causing the death of her mother. This is unacceptable to put relatives in this position especially those without the knowledge of medicine and how the systems work.
This must be the time for a public health campaign to encourage people to start talking about the future, what would be important to them and to put in the legal directions to enable this to happen rather relying on relatives in the pressured setting of an accident department.

Competing interests: No competing interests

28 May 2018
Andrew Thorns
Consultant in Palliative Medicine
Pilgrims Hospice
Margate, Kent