Elderly patients 'helped to die to free up beds', warns doctor "I removed the patient from the LCP despite significant resistance," he said. His seizures came under control and four weeks later he was discharged home to his family. The lack of evidence for initiating the Liverpool Care Pathway makes it an assisted death pathway rather than a care pathway. Professor Pullicino said the 71-year-old man lived for another 14 months before he suffered pneumonia again and was admitted to a different hospital. He was put on the LCP and died five hours later. Very likely many elderly patients who could live substantially longer are being killed by the LCP. Patients are frequently put on the pathway without a proper analysis of their condition," he added. Predicting death in a time frame of three to four days, or even at any other specific time, is not possible scientifically. This determination in the LCP leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy. The personal views of the physician or other medical team members of perceived quality of life or low likelihood of a good outcome are probably central in putting a patient on the LCP. He said those who went on to come off the LCP and live longer than expected were costly to the taxpayer because of the extra health care and support needed. The LCP was developed as a template for health workers to make the last days of terminally ill patients comfortable. The guidance recommends patients' on the pathway are regularly assessed, and they can be taken off the LCP if they are no longer close to death. A Department of Health spokesman said: "The Liverpool Care Pathway is not euthanasia and we do not recognise these figures. The pathway is recommended by NICE and has overwhelming support from clinicians - at home and abroad - including the Royal College of Physicians. A patient's condition is monitored at least every four hours and if a patient improves, they are taken off the Liverpool Care Pathway and given whatever treatments best suit their new needs.