> Yngve Gustafsson, professor of geriatric medicine at Umea University, noted that the proportion of older people in respiratory care nationally was lower than at the same time a year ago, despite people over 70 being the worst affected by covid-19. He expressed concern about the increasing practice of doctors recommending by telephone a “palliative cocktail” for sick older people in care homes.
> “Older people are routinely being given morphine and midazolam, which are respiratory-inhibiting,” he told the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper [5], “It’s active euthanasia, to say the least.”
Euthanasia requires the explicit desire of being killed, clearly expressed by the patient, normally with the family knowledge and after legal consultation that proves that there is excruciating pain are there is not a better alternative for treatment.
And this is killing a helpless person unable to defend his life or will, and blocking their relatives to help him/her in this task. And it was not exclusive from Sweden, probably.
It's easy to find the article, you just google search with the article title.
https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m2376
> Yngve Gustafsson, professor of geriatric medicine at Umea University, noted that the proportion of older people in respiratory care nationally was lower than at the same time a year ago, despite people over 70 being the worst affected by covid-19. He expressed concern about the increasing practice of doctors recommending by telephone a “palliative cocktail” for sick older people in care homes.
> “Older people are routinely being given morphine and midazolam, which are respiratory-inhibiting,” he told the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper [5], “It’s active euthanasia, to say the least.”