Hi All,
Last week a senior staff member at my dad's care home told me that in her experience she believed that he was entering end stage dementia. Over the past week he has increasingly refused food and drink and has just constantly asked to be left in bed.
Today my family and I were called to A and E as he had "taken a turn for the worse." When we arrived and were finally allowed to see him we found him semi conscious, not able to swallow but rousable for short amounts of time (30-60 seconds) before slipping off again.
The doctors say he "probably" has pneumonia but as he also has COPD this is still debatable. They have admitted him and are giving him high does antibiotics and intravenous fluids. We have been told "he could pull round or he might not."
I believe that my dad has now given up his fight to stay alive and that pumping him full of antibiotics and rehydrating him is just prolonging his suffering.
My question is does anyone one know if I have the right to ask that he be made comfortable with palliative care only and if so how do I go about achieving this for him.
Last week a senior staff member at my dad's care home told me that in her experience she believed that he was entering end stage dementia. Over the past week he has increasingly refused food and drink and has just constantly asked to be left in bed.
Today my family and I were called to A and E as he had "taken a turn for the worse." When we arrived and were finally allowed to see him we found him semi conscious, not able to swallow but rousable for short amounts of time (30-60 seconds) before slipping off again.
The doctors say he "probably" has pneumonia but as he also has COPD this is still debatable. They have admitted him and are giving him high does antibiotics and intravenous fluids. We have been told "he could pull round or he might not."
I believe that my dad has now given up his fight to stay alive and that pumping him full of antibiotics and rehydrating him is just prolonging his suffering.
My question is does anyone one know if I have the right to ask that he be made comfortable with palliative care only and if so how do I go about achieving this for him.