60,000 sick people 'put on death pathway,' says UK newspaper

If you're looking for death panels, look across the Atlantic. A British newspaper claims that 60,000 U.K. patients have been "put on death pathway without being told" -- a development it says was greeted by British politicians as "a fantastic step forward." The pathway means doctors stop life-extending treatment and increase patients' sedation. While the nation's health secretary defended the protocols, known as the Liverpool Care Pathway, as an opportunity to bring "hospice-style" care to hospitals, critics -- including the Daily Mail, which published the report -- contend that unwitting patients are dying without being informed of their opportunities for prolonging life -- and that even conscious patients are never informed of their alternatives. MSN