{"id":199190,"date":"2019-03-29T10:21:03","date_gmt":"2019-03-29T15:21:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=199190"},"modified":"2019-03-28T20:22:45","modified_gmt":"2019-03-29T01:22:45","slug":"down-syndrome-dies-hospital-denies-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/down-syndrome-dies-hospital-denies-food\/","title":{"rendered":"Awful: Man with Down syndrome dies after hospital denies food for 20 days"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A UK hospital is facing an inquest after a man in their care died in 2016 when they allegedly allowed him to go without food for 20 days. The 61-year-old man, Giuseppe (Joe) Ulleri, had Down syndrome and died of aspiration pneumonia mere days after his family questioned the hospital’s level of care for him.<\/p>\n

Because Ulleri was unable to communicate well and had difficulty caring for himself, he had a deprivation of liberty safeguarding order<\/a>, which means his medical care was decided for him. After a fall at his supported living home on February 26, 2016, Ulleri was taken to Manchester Royal Infirmary and was initially discharged before returning to discover he had fractures to his pelvis, wrist, and the vertebrae in his neck, which the hospital had failed to notice<\/em>, according to the Mirror<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Doctors ordered that he be “nil by mouth” (no food or fluids by mouth) out of concerns that he would aspirate. A feeding tube was placed through his nose on March 9, 2016, about 11 days after he was admitted, but after just a day it was removed due to discomfort. Doctors waited to place a feeding tube directly to his stomach for a full nine days<\/strong> on March 18. Two days later, Ulleri died.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Training manual: Advising abortion for babies with Down syndrome can be \u2018a blessed relief\u2019<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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