Who would have thought my first post would be newsworthy? At least it's current today, probably forgotten by the time this comes out. Today the announcers are talking about a nurse in California, (Doesn't these things usually happen in California,) refusing to give CPR to an elderly lady in a nursing home. The elderly lady died before the ambulance could get to her. The call lasted seven minutes. The 911 operator was trying to get the nurse to either perform CPR or get someone, anyone, who would. The 911 operator asked, "Is there anyone there who can perform CPR?". The nurse replied, "Not at this time." The nursing home stood by their employee saying it is their policy to call 911 and not perform CPR.
On the surface this incident seems callus, horrific, and simply unbelievable. How could a nurse just stand there while a person dies in front of her? What is the world coming to? I'm not saying this isn't a terrible and inexcusable thing, I'm not saying the nurse did right either. I am saying at this point we don't have all the facts. It makes a good news story as it stands and that is the reason it went national.
We don't know if the lady who died had a do not resuscitate (DNR) order. We don't know if the nursing home only takes people who have do not resuscitate orders. There is much we don't know about this case or the conditions agreed upon before residents chose this particular nursing home.
I've told my family I don't want heroics performed to save my life if the quality of my life would be compromised. I also have an Advance Directive spelling these things out, unfortunately it was drawn up in a different state than where I now live. But until I get it re-done, my family knows my wishes. I know for a fact if I were in a nursing home no matter what my age I wouldn't want to be resuscitated.
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