Elderly abuse in the NHS, 3

I didn't know whether to tell my mum that she had been excluded from a test to determine eligibility for a drug. Should she know that her autonomy had been walked all over? Would it make her give up on her life? In the end I told her yesterday. I thought it might give her back her fighting spirit.

She didn't know that there had been a test that she had been denied.Inspite of going to the meeting (alone) with the oncologist where the "whole picture" was discussed, she had no idea that there was a drug she might have had to hold back the cancer. Doesn't this prove the point? That no one, let alone someone elderly, can assimilate, or question, information of this gravity in an appointment when alone, and that it is imperative not to go to these appointments unsupported. But,as we know, the appointment wasn't to discuss all her options, it was to persuade her to do what the doctor wanted her to do. I suppose it is more accurate to say "what the whole clinical team wanted for her" since all the staff were involved in taking away not only her autonomy, but her right to information as well.

The whole clinical team? So here we have the discrepancy of the team deciding to opt my mum out of treatment and the S.H.O. telling me that she had/ or would have the test. Strange. The S.H.O. was not telling the truth.... and yet the SHO would have been part of the team. So at what point did they decide to make decisions FOR my mum and exclude tests from her secretly? The answer is I don't know. Why should we be told, we are only the relative and the patient with no rights at all.

The new consultant is reviewing my mum's medical notes and will come to a decision. I fancy that the decision will be the same one that was made before, don't you? Doctors stick together. It is almost impossible to get a truly honest second opinion because doctors support each other.

Look, I'm coming back when I find out yet another forgone conclusion. I will let you know.

Meanwhile, please never trust an SHO., it could be a matter of life or death. Speak ONLY to the Consultant and if you can, get copies of the notes every week. If you have the notes in your possession they cannot come back and alter the notes should something go wrong with your loved ones treatment.

Best to all........