Kathryn LifeLearner

We resuscitated a 95 year old. Broke all her ribs. She then survived for 3 more days in pain. We gave her pain meds but was a very poor way to end a long life. The discussion in uk is different. Resus is a medical decision. I don’t need the patient to agree. The doctor was right here.

@drokane @PronouncedHare Indeed. On that day, the family had gathered (like actors in a play), expecting her to die in her own bed, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. They/we hadn't expected that her condition was treatable.

@ApingSpring @PronouncedHare A DNAR doesn’t mean she can’t recover from dehydration. Patients do. It sign forms.

When my grandmother was 99 she had a pacemaker fitted. They flew her to Wellington for the operation. Before they went the guy asked her if she wanted to be resuscitated. She said yes. The guy then asked her again, explaining that it can cause quite painful injuries. She was a completely capable woman of full mental capacity and said yes she understood and please resuscitate her if she needed it. He then asked her a third time, telling her that her quality of life might be different. At that point, my grandmother turned to my father and asked “What does he want me to say?” and Dad then intervened telling the now very defensive guy to knock it off. That kind of low level pressure happens in the health system every day.

@PronouncedHare Several months later mum was sitting in her own home, fully awake and aware she was in her last weeks of life. She told the doctor she wanted to sign a DNR but he asked her twice more before handing her the form. Her priest was present, plus a health visitor, my sister & myself.

@PronouncedHare An ambulance man advised my sister to get our mother to sign a DNR because resuscitation wouldn't have worked on her so she'd have sustained painful injuries for nothing... IF she'd needed resuscitating The doctor refused, and our mother recovered (from dehydration) in hospital.

@PronouncedHare I knew he wasn't ready because he wouldn't have cried. I knew he wanted to go home.

@PronouncedHare A nun told my dad it was time to let go, it was time to die. He started crying and I said dad she's wrong you don't have to die now you don't have to die here in the hospital. We can take you home. We did and he died several days later in his bed.

@cour_michelle I am very sure that nobody sets out to create this kind of pressure in a systematic way. But that’s the trouble with systems. They evolve to protect the system not to optimise individual judgment.

It depends, seen people persevere even after being told their multiple medical problems meant they wouldn’t survive any attempts. People don’t realise that survival rates are pretty low. Our local hospital has the policy of asking everyone, even if it’s only remotely possible. But that extra discussion in context of their overall health condition doesn’t seem to have happened and there shouldn’t need to be repeated questioning. Patients have that right to chose what care they want or not as the case may be.

@1goodtern They will also say that there is increased illness during waves because just before waves governments offer to vaccine to the elderly.

@1goodtern People like that also claim Long Covid is vax injury, yet, so many of us developed LC in the 1st year, before vax were available.

@1goodtern @morgfair I get every vax offered and I'm never sick. Never got Covid, flu, pneumonia, shingles. I know it could all just be coincidence or I'm a freak of nature but as a kid who lived through measles and chicken pox before vaccines, I'm grateful.

@suehere6 I'm not a doctor, and my expertise is in hazard awareness and risk reduction, so I'm not in a position to give advice on vaccines. Generally I think the recommendation is for people who are vulnerable to get vaccinated against flu each year. If in doubt, ask your doctor.

@1goodtern Hi! I really respect and appreciate your work on Covid, thank you 🙏🏻 Do you recommend people - esp with compromised immune systems - get the annual flu vaccine? Or can you point to helpful on this please?

@1goodtern Oh that must be why I fractured my shoulder. Not me splatting onto the patio

I had a conversation with a guy who said that all the increased illness is because we all took the covid vaccines. I then asked him when all the illness comes, and he said it comes during the covid waves and afterwards. So I asked him whether people should do anything to stop catching Covid and he didn't know what to say.

#BenefitSanctions With 2.1 million claimants in conditionality regimes where sanctions can be applied, this means approximately 123,900 people were undergoing a sanction in November 2025 alone. morningstaronline.co.uk/article/compas… #morningstaronline

This is heartbreaking. 😢👇 25-year-old Noelia Castillo from Spain died yesterday by legal euthanasia after becoming paraplegic in a 2022 suicide attempt. She endured chronic pain, trauma, and psychiatric issues. Doctors approved it, courts upheld her right to choose - but her father and critics say the state failed her by offering death instead of real support. ⚖️ This case has ignited fierce debate about euthanasia, mental health care, and whether unbearable suffering justifies assisted dying. What’s your honest take❓ Should people in chronic, incurable suffering have the right to end their life with medical help - even with mental health involved? Or must society prioritise better care and protection❓ Reply below. Be respectful. 🗣️ Poll below 👇

Govt minister Matthew Pennycook yesterday : "I have never once suggested we'd abolish leasehold outright" Govt minister Matthew Pennycook on the 27th Jan 2026: "This package as a whole, as I have said, will end the leasehold system in its entirety and in a single Parliament"