Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Off the Beaten Path(way)

As we noted late last month, MVNHS© "trusts" (hospitals) that participate in the British Death Panel Liverpool Care Pathway have been handsomely rewarded for their efforts. This makes sense: by scrimping on care they save the system cold hard cash, thereby earning their (not so) little finder's fees.

But all that may be coming to an end:

"Ministers ... ordered an independent inquiry into why hospitals have been paid to hit targets for numbers of patients dying on the Liverpool Care Pathway."

I'm sure this will be welcome news for those currently on the path; for those whose lives bought Angus steak dinners for the bureauweenies, not so much.

I did find this little tidbit darkly humorous:

"Mr Lamb said the inquiry would ‘consider the value of locally set incentives, and whether they are leading to bad decisions or practice’"

Well, that really depends on whether one believes killing off patients is a bug or a feature, doesn't it?
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