Death in Derby

"Eleven elderly patients on the same hospital ward were deliberately starved to death, an Inquest was told yesterday." (Daily Telegraph, 19 Jan. 05) They suffered from dementia, and were nursed on the
Rowsley Ward at the Kingsway Hospital Hospital, Derby. "The patients, all men aged between 67 and 93, died after having their food and drink needlessly withdrawn, according to relatives."

A retired High Court judge who was conducting the inquiry, Sir Richard Rougier, said "If food and fluids were withdrawn in the belief that it was the lesser of two evils, committing them to die in as much comfort and dignity as possible, it would be grossly unfair to record a verdict other than that of natural causes." So "natural causes" he ruled, in all the cases.