Doctors ordered to ask patients over 75 for end-of-life plan, hinting at 'do not resuscitate' options in UK

New guidelines issued by the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom pressure doctors to push end-of-life plans.

General practitioners (GPs) are urged to ask their patients over 75-years-old for their end-of-life plans and if they want to be resuscitated or not, following the new guidelines issued by the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - Old patients and those with cancer, dementia, heart disease or serious lung problems, despite young ages, will be asked the same in precaution to their health deterioration. Although the NHS sees the new order improving the end-of-life care of these patients, some express their disagreement with the guidelines, with some reportedly leaving distraught after being asked to implement the program.

"What is most blatantly wrong is trying to get someone to agree to a 'do not resuscitate' order before they are even sick. For somebody who is perfectly well, or has got a mild or not a serious illness, that would be totally out of place," said Prof. Patrick Pullicino, who led the campaign against the Liverpool care Pathway (LCP) on its use of "do not resuscitate" orders despite disapproval.

According to health policy analyst and former NHS trust chairman Roy Lilley, the order will at some point give these patients, especially the old, the impression that no one is left wanting to care for them. "It's a very clunky thing to do - it's completely unnecessary," he added.

According to the Daily Mail, the order means stopping the unnecessary suffering of the patient. Trauma is mostly experienced by the resuscitated patients, as well as broken ribs and internal organ damages, with only about 10 to 15 percent of them are brought back to life as estimated by doctors. However, it appears as if they are already writing them off completely.