AlanB "Even so, giving folk with just a nurse's degree given the apparent right to administer a lethal dose of prescription medicine om their own cognizance, is just not on."

Now you are being hysterical Alan. If a registered nurse is found to have given 'a lethal dose' of any medicine to anyone, they would be prosecuted, and rightly so. No nurse or doctor is legally able to do this in this country, and if you have any proof of these mad allegations, then you need to report them to the relevant authorities.

DO you have any proof? If not, then stop the stupid comments about something you know absolutely nothing about. I have been in senior nursing positions in both public and private health care facilities, including palliative care, for over 30 years, and I have never seen anyone deliberately 'put down'. Have I just been in the wrong places while you, a really obviously non-medical person, have all this inside knowledge?

As for your elderly mate who was 'forced' into a nursing home, no one that I know has ever willingly said they would rejoice in going into residential care, and indeed only a few of our elderly end up in these homes. Most are cared for in their own homes by community care providers and either die at home or in hospital.

It is way cheaper for the government and the health system for people to remain in their own home. For all the pension and bond money the elderly pay to stay in these residential care facilities, our health system has to top-up the fees, for all the 24 hour care needed, by many thousands of dollars for each resident. If someone has to go into care, it is always for a very good reason, of which you may not be aware.