Son’s anguish after doctors let mother, 88, ‘starve to death’
A HEARTBROKEN son told how his elderly mother suffered an ‘inhumane and harrowing’ death after doctors withdrew food and water.
Sarene Taylor, 88, was taken to hospital after a stroke but medics said there was nothing more they could do and an end-of-life ‘care pathway’ was begun.
Her son Rob said she died slowly from dehydration and malnutrition, 28 days after food and fluids were withdrawn.
In the meantime, the mother of two was returned to the care home where she was living previously. Although seen daily by district nurses, retired police officer Mr Taylor understands she received no sedatives and may have been conscious at times.
Mr Taylor, awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in 2016 and now the Welsh government’s rural crime co-ordinator, said: ‘She was just left to die in front of our very eyes. What dignity is there in putting someone in a room and leaving them to starve?’
He said his family were not consulted on the decision to remove food and fluids – a practice once known as the Liverpool Care Pathway. It was withdrawn in 2014 after a campaign by the Daily Mail over fears it was used to speed up deaths and cases of people being put on it who might otherwise have survived. But a parliamentary report this month concluded it is still practised ‘in all but name’.
Mr Taylor, who said he was given no consent forms to sign, was told his mother would not survive on February 20, four days after admission to Glan Clwyd Hospital in Denbighshire. ‘I was told she would die within hours or days. The fact she lasted nearly a month leads me to think their diagnosis wasn’t right,’ he added. He described the retired secretary wasting away ‘without food, water, no IV drip, nothing’ until she died on Monday, with the manner of her death ‘deeply affecting’ his
‘She wasn’t ready to die’
90-year-old father. A decision is yet to be taken about whether there will be an inquest.
Andrea Hughes, of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, said it was ‘investigating concerns raised’ by Mr Taylor. Leandra Ashton, of campaign group The People’s Care Watchdog, said: ‘We have to end this barbaric practice. The fact Mrs Taylor had the strength to hold on for so many days shows she wasn’t ready to die. There must be an investigation into how it is going on.’