Why do we let our elderly die of broken hearts?

  • By Duncan Shaw
  • 15 May, 2017
Some encouraging news for a change. A senior family judge, Sir James Munby, has stated it is inhuman to separate elderly couples who have spent decades together, and stick them in different care homes. I hope social services pay attention because, as he points out, people really do die “from what we colloquially call a broken heart”. 

Read more
By Duncan Shaw May 12, 2017

People with dementia and learning difficulties are being detained in care without checks due to a 'failing' law, the Law Commission has said.

It said a 2014 Supreme Court ruling that widened the definition of who was subject to the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards had led to a rise in cases.

Services cannot cope, deadlines were "routinely breached" and the system should be replaced, the body reported.

Read more