The Swedish Covid Model (7 Pics)

Sweden's increasing number of coronavirus deaths has drawn criticism: On April 14, 22 academics wrote a letter to a Stockholm newspaper calling on officials to change course "with swift and radical measures."

"people are increasingly practicing euthanasia under the guise of palliative care." - Anonymous doctor from Karolinska hospital, Sweden

Swedish death rates eclipse their neighbors who have taken a harsher stance against the disease. Annika Linde, former swedish national epidemiologist, in an interview to dagens nyheter, "I think it is starting to seem like the Swedish model may not have been the wisest in all respects".

An anonymous doctor working at the Karolinska hospital backs up Gustafson and explains that such "calming" treatments are being used specifically for COVID19 patients and goes on to say: "This is a sensitive issue. We are not talking about it among colleagues, but now I am beginning to notice that people are increasingly practicing euthanasia under the guise of palliative care."

Yngve Gustafson, professor of Geriatrics from Umeå university, in an other interview with DN commented that not all that could have been done had been done to save the elderly in care homes, he even hints at the behavior edging on criminal: "The fact that someone lives in a nursing home is not a diagnosis and cannot be a medical basis for deciding whether to allow a person to live or die. It is discriminatory and illegal not to make a medical assessment of what is best for an individual patient" he says.

"The fact that, instead of these treatments [supportive and prophylactic treatment e.g. extra oxygen and iv nutrition], the elderly are routinely given midazolam and morphine, which cause difficulty to breathe, is an active death aid."

Sweden's approach is a product of its high-trust culture, according to the country's chief epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell. "We are more into nudging: continuously reminding people to use measures," he told Nature.