"The soft embalmer of the still midnight": a problem of prescribing hypnotics in general practice

Was it euthanasia or was it even murder? That is the rather dramatic question with which the case history ends. However, none of those taking part in this conference had any doubts that it was neither murder nor euthanasia. But all had doubts as to whether the patient received the best care which the medical and allied professions can command. The barrister declared that in law there would have been no case to answer but the consensus of opinion of the other participants was that as no real diagnosis had been made the treatment was essentially superficial - ensuring sleep for the patient by prescribing barbiturates. The most fundamental criticism of the management of this patient was that individuals looked after her rather than an interdisciplinary team, some member of which might properly have sought to overrule Dorothy (the patient's daughter) when she took her mother away from a nursing home. However, what makes this case conference fascinating is not the facts of the case or the treatment so much as the avenues for moral and social discussion opened for the reader.