• Dear Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Streeting
• I have started this petition for an Inquiry into the use of End of Life Care practices in Hospitals including Aintree Hospital to have my father's medical records to be investigated when he was a patient for 8 months in 2012,  after being admitted and diagnosed with constipation, he ended up critically ill and severely dehydrated then put on The Liverpool Care Pathway now known as End of Life Care, to be known as Assisted Dying if Assisted Dying Bill is passed.
• End of Life Care is being "misused" on the wrong patients in our hospitals targeting vulnerable people including the elderly, and  people who lack Mental Capacity.
• Formerly known as "The Liverpool Care Pathway" developed for terminally Ill patients in Hospices, End of Life Care has perpetuated many of its worst practices on hospital wards allowing patients to suffer days of dehydration under heavy sedation, leaving them unable to ask for food or drink leading to horrible undignified deaths.

Many patients are wrongly put onto End of Life Care instead of minor issues being treated especially if they are deemed to be "too old", all done clearly to save money due to the cost the elderly are putting onto the system ignoring their "Right to Life". This elderly generation have worked all their working lives paying more Taxes and National Insurance Contributions towards the NHS longer than any other generation

There has never been a better time for an Independent Inquiry into DNARs and End of Life Care practices which the COVID Pandemic has highlighted.

The re introduction of The Liverpool Care Pathway along with blanket DNARs are being used on our hospital wards on patients who are getting told treatments are futile and they are dying when this is not always the case with Life Saving Treatments being withdrawn and Opioids like Midazolam and Morphine getting administered and overused and patients are dying.....

As Assisted Dying is being debated in Parliament I am calling for a full public debate and An Independent Inquiry into these practices to help prevent others from being wrongly put on End of Life Care which could potentially lead to Assisted Dying if it's made Law.

Which leads me onto my father the late David James, who was a fit and healthy 68 year old talented musician from Liverpool who played on one of Liverpool's clubs just 3 days before driving himself into our local hospital Aintree NHS Trust with stomach pains. After examination by a bowel consultant he was diagnosed with constipation the hospital admitted him until bowel function resumed.

What should have been a 2 night stay in hospital turned out to be 8 months on CCU. 

We are the family who was at the centre of "The Right to Life" Case in 2012 in The Royal Courts of Justice as the hospital wanted to withdraw treatments 3 weeks after dad was admitted because in their words "he was dying". There was never a diagnosis into what made him critically ill all we know is dad got Hospital Acquired Pneumonia within days of him being admitted into Aintree Hospital then Sepsis resulting from it, which kept him in hospital where he ended up severely dehydrated, kidney failure, and critically ill after just 3 weeks!

The hospital wanted to withdraw treatments 3 days after dad's admission into CCU without an explanation why or what happened to him.

We felt intimidated as the Hospital tried to get us to agree with them to stop treatments telling us they were "futile".

The family couldn't agree with the Doctors so they took us to a Court of Protection in Dad's Best Interests where doctors admitted he was on End of Life Care.

The family Won the Case as Judgement was passed that treatments were not futile and Dad still had a "Quality of Life Worth Living".

The hospital unfortunately later appealed in The Appeals Court and got the decision overturned.

Dad got another hospital acquired infection....he sadly passed away on December 31st 2012.

One of our main questions and concerns is Why were doctors so intent on withdrawing all treatments after just 3 weeks of admitting dad, telling us he was dying when he wasn't (he actually lived a further 7 months) and putting him onto End of Life Care after getting a diagnosis of Hospital Aquired Pneumonia which turned into Sepsis.

In 2013 the case went into The Supreme Court as The Appeals Court had got the Law wrong in its reasoning. The Supreme Court ruled The Court of Protection had got the Law correct and that treatments were not "futile" so the "Precedence" Aintree Hospital had tried to set giving permission for all CCU in hospitals the right to withdraw life saving treatments if they thought were "futile" was stopped in The Supreme Court hearing.

We were praised as a family by Lady Hale saying "The Family have won the Argument of Principle " and Judgement was passed that we were correct to have challenged the doctors to carry on treatments as they were not "futile".

As a result part of The Mental Capacity Act 2005 was changed for people who lacked Capacity  and written in the BMJ that "doctors must take into account families wishes in life and death decisions for their loved ones. " This judgement has been passed in the Highest Court in the land but many over 60s are still being admitted into our hospitals and ending up heavily sedated and severely dehydrated on hospital wards...no matter what they are admitted into hospital with.

I am requesting The Health Secretary to consider Dad's medical records to form part of an Inquiry into End of Life Care Practices and how he ended up Critically Ill, severely Dehydrated with organ failure with doctors pressurising us to agree with them to withdraw treatments as they were saying were futile ..

With the ongoing debate of The Assisted Dying Bill we are asking for Legislation to be passed to Protect Families Rights and Wishes to be considered in doctors decisions in administering/withdrawing medical treatments...especially when a patient lacks Capacity...(as in the Ruling passed in The Supreme Court Case in 2013) 

A "National Right to Life" Legislation to be known as "James Law" to help Save lives and put a stop to misusing End of Life Care and people dying in hospitals of Avoidable Deaths.

It is now coming up to 12 years since Dad died and we still don't know why or what happened to him in the care of Aintree Hospital. 

There has been no Apology for what happened to Dad or an Apology for the way we were treated as a Family by the Hospital.

The family need Clarity and Accountability into the Factors that led up to my Father's Death. 

Our NHS Complaint has been passed to 2 CEOs of Aintree Hospital, to the NHS Ombudsman, the CQC, the Coroner has been involved, but no one has effectively helped us with it.

If Aintree hospital has done nothing wrong why can't they answer our questions for us to have closure? This whole experience has totally devastated our family!!!

My father went into hospital with just CONSTIPATION to end up 8 months as a patient then dying on a CCU Ward without any explanation of what happened to him in the Care of the Hospital with no Accountability from the Doctors who told us Treatments were Futile or an Admission of what lead up to my Father's Avoidable Death.

It is in the  Public Interest to act on what I am asking in this Petition as our Court of Protection and Supreme Court  Cases were High Profile Landmark Cases which Ruled that Life Saving Treatments "Were Not Futile" for my Father when Doctors were telling us they were "Futile" How many other Families are getting told this also?

My Family challenged the Doctors for months about my Father's Hydration Levels and the Administration of dangerous Opiates including Morphine  Oramorph and Codeine on a few occasions against the Family's Wishes.

We hope to prevent this happening to other Families and to help prevent Avoidable Deaths 

The End of Life Care plan is clearly getting misused on "the wrong Patients" on Hospital wards as comments from Families across the Country attached to my Petition show.

These Families feel needless Avoidable  Deaths are happening especially with the Elderly and Disabled Patients.

It is everyones Human Right to receive Treatments and Correct Fluid Management Control in Hospitals it is what Doctors sign up to " The Hyppocratic Oath" for Saving Lives!. My Family also request for a meeting with The Health Secretary to hand in this petition in person. 

Kind Regards

Julie