New figures reveal that 3,000 patients were helped to die y doctors rea!ing the law in the "# last year, and $%2,000 people had their deaths accelerated y &edics' Midland ()*+ ,+- accuses &edics of playing .od with people/s lives' *01 star! realities of life and death in the N0S were revealed last wee!' New research showed that ending life unethically was co&&on practice a&ongst &any doctors' Not too long ago ) was an idealistic 2unior doctor, fresh fro& &edical school and eager to provide the est possile treat&ent for &y patients' +fter all, ) wanted to save lives to the est of &y aility' But as ti&e passed, ) learned the shoc!ing reality of health professionals with a taste for playing .od' My idealistic values have little place in today/s N0S' 0ospitals are so under3staffed and under3funded that they eco&e treat&ent factories condoning a /survival of the fittest/ policy' *he elderly, disaled, confused 3 those who are least ale to for& a rapport with doctors 3 eco&e an intolerale urden on an over3stretched ' Before long, a consultant will &a!e the decision to withdraw treat&ent in their /est interests/' *he decision is actually ased on an assess&ent of the patient/s 4uality of life versus the potential resource consu&ption' "nfortunately, the assess&ent is rarely either detailed or o2ective' Doctors are so usy and tired that they &a!e su2ective decisions influenced y their own culture, upringing and opinions' )f the patient/s condition does not per&it a 4uality of life that the doctor would personally find acceptale, it is assu&ed that the life is not worth living and treat&ent is withdrawn' Do Not (esuscitate 5DN(6 decisions are e4uated with stopping asic care, , active treat&ent, withholding treat&ent and prescriing with a side3effect of decreasing respiration' *hese decisions are often un!nown to relatives' ) hear the 2ustification of /est interests/ echoed through every N0S ward' ) often turn away and wonder how death could possily e considered in the patient/s /est interest/' 7learly, the N0S today lac!s hu&anity, integrity and the aility to care aout the &ost vulnerale &e&ers of society' *he si&ple concept of assisting the ill and frail has een lost in favour of alance sheets, targets and star ratings' 0ow &uch is a life worth8 +s a 2unior doctor, ) found this appalling situation i&possile to accept' ) eca&e a doctor not to end lives, ut to save the&, and to help patients &a!e their own choices' )nstead, during &y ti&e in general &edicine, ) spent &any sleepless nights agonising over the decisions &ade y consultants, rac!ed with guilt at eing an unwilling part of this unethical decision3&a!ing process' ) often felt that their ehaviour as doctors was nothing &ore than involuntary &anslaughter' *he practice has gone on for decades, passed on as accepted practices fro& one generation of doctors to another 3 so &uch so that there is a sense of indifference towards the si&ple values of patient care' Just as lives can e ended covertly, so si&ilar ðods can e used to save the&' 7lever under3cover &edicine is soðing that &any doctors do to thwart a consultant/s deadly decisions' ,atients are transferred to other estalish&ents 4uic!ly efore DN(s ta!e effect, &edication reinstated and given in one3off doses efore the consultant has ti&e to notice' ,erhaps &y &ost rewarding e9perience was the sight of an elderly lady sitting up in ed and putting on her lipstic! 2ust two wee!s after a consultant had written her off' :Doctor, do ) loo! pretty8: she as!ed' ) s&iled, hiding &y !nowledge of &y colleague/s decision to let her die' :;ou loo! fantastic and not a day over 60,: ) told her' Saving lives &ust always e the doctor/s first role'