The Patients’ Association is a healthcare charity just outside London that advocates for (a) better access to accurate and independent information for patients and the public; (b) equal access to high quality health care for patients; and (c) the right for patients to be involved in all aspects of decision making regarding their health care. It has just released a 100-page report containing firsthand accounts of some of the very worst stories of poor care in British Hospitals. One case is that of Immacolata Lacovara as recounted by her son, Matt Lacovara. “When we arrived at the hospital on the terrible night my mother passed away, we discovered that a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) notice had been placed in her file. None of the family knew anything about this, and we never knowingly signed anything like this on my mother’s behalf, nor would we have done.”
“Even if my mother had signed something, she would not have known what she was signing as English was not her first language. If she was told to sign she would have duly unknowingly have done so, trusting the medical staff it would be for her benefit. Even then she would have required help holding the pen and would not have known that she was signing her life away.”
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