WHEN YOUR CUSTOMERS DON'T PAY AND ARE BORING TOO, YOU HAVE EVERY MOTIVE TO GET RID OF THEM

In Britain, of course

A coroner is demanding a public inquiry into claims that 11 hospital patients were deliberately starved to death. He believes that it could be Britain's first case of forced "mass euthanasia". Peter Ashworth, the coroner for Derby, will open an inquest later this year into the suspicious deaths at the city's Kingsway hospital. He considers the matter so serious that he has written to the Department of Health asking for the inquest to be superseded by a judicial inquiry with powers to investigate practices at the hospital.

There is now increasing concern across Britain about the way hospitals appear to be hastening the deaths of elderly patients. Police in Leeds and Hampshire are also looking into similar cases.

The 11 patients, all men aged between 65 and 93, died in the Rowsley ward for the elderly at Kingsway. A review of the cases, ordered by the coroner, found evidence that their deaths may have been speeded up by withholding sufficient food. The allegations first surfaced after Jayne Drew, a healthcare assistant, alerted the hospital managers after the deaths of Simon Smith, 74, and Arthur Boddice, 81, in the summer of 1997.

Families of fellow patients at the hospital claimed that some staff had become so upset at seeing elderly people being starved that they had taken it upon themselves to feed them secretly. One relative has described how it was distressing to see his father go without food. Andrew Hughson said his 75- year-old father, also called Andrew, would vainly stretch his hand towards meals being delivered to other patients. "We kept being told that feeding him would be bad for his general health, and he was too frail to tell us otherwise," he said.

The inquest has been delayed by two investigations: one by the hospital, which found no evidence of wrongdoing, and the other by Derbyshire police, which sent a file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The CPS ruled that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute and now the police are awaiting the results of Ashworth's inquest, which is expected to take three months.

After taking over the case, he sent 23 patients' medical notes to Clare Royston, the clinical director of elderly people's services at the Bedfordshire and Luton Community NHS trust. She concluded that 11 of the deaths may have been deliberately speeded up.

Yesterday Ashworth released a statement saying: "I am aware there is a possibility that issues might arise in the inquest which are not within my jurisdiction to consider."

The health department has offered to hold a confidential internal inquiry [Coverup! coverup!] into practices on the ward after the inquests. This has been rejected by the victims' families because it would not have the same powers as a judicial inquiry. "As a group we have rejected that offer," said Simon Smith's son Michael, a zoologist. "They have been arguing, but we and the coroner want a full public inquiry.

More here

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation.

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