Posted on 10/15/2011 8:08:55 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
Elderly patients are being condemned to an early death by hospitals making secret use of "do not resuscitate" orders, an investigation has found.
The orders – which record an advance decision that a patient's life should not be saved if their heart stops – are routinely being applied without the knowledge of the patient or their relatives.
On one ward, one-third of DNR orders were issued without consultation with the patient or their family, according to the NHS's own records. At another hospital, junior doctors freely admitted that the forms were filled out by medical teams without the involvement of patients or relatives.
Under medical guidelines, the orders should only be issued after senior staff have discussed the matter with the patient's family. A form, signed by two doctors, is then placed in the patient's notes to record what decision was taken.
The findings emerged in spot checks of 100 hospitals undertaken by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), an official watchdog, earlier this year.
A charity for the elderly said the disclosures were evidence of "euthanasia by the backdoor," with potentially-lethal notices being placed on the files of patients simply because they were old and frail.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
My father, years ago, insisted that DNR be prominently displayed on all of his medical records.
Once you've made this transition, there is no logical barrier left to out and out euthanasia applied without your permission. In Holland they have a whole series of supposed checks and balances, permissions that have to be obtained before euthanasia can be applied. But in actual fact, the doctor thinks your life isn't worth living, you get the cocktail and no one knows, not you, not your family. You went in for some procedure and you don't come out.
How could not applying CPR to someone who dies from old age be euthanasia? If you die naturally, your dead. How is that euthanasia?
Kill the old people now! There is no room for the unproductive in this socialist Brave New World.
Obama’s death panel will ensure this becomes routine. Obama’s advice for the elderly, the sick and the disabled useless eaters: hurry up and die!
From demonizing the innocent (Juden, Tea Party) to euthanizing the unwanted, the satanic influence on the third reich is seen in the leftist of today.
So if you're are "seriously" ill and ain't dead, die already!
This message brought to you by the Democrats' Obamascare
OK - I’m going to jump into the fray here and say that in SOME cases, medical personnel may have to make the decision to institute a DNR because the patient is unable to do so and the family doesn’t want to discuss it.
My husband has been in emergency services for over 25 years and there are many people who insist that medics “Do everything!” even though the patient is clearly not going to survive.
I am NOT advocating for euthanasia but we as a country need to be willing to have the necessary discussions about our wishes for what measures we want taken or else the choices will be taken from us. Death is a part of life and denying that it is coming doesn’t actually prevent it!
I signed a DNR for my grandmother....she’d been in a nursing home for years, and frankly, if they had tried cpr they would have broken her bones.....she was in her 90’s....oh, and she had not recognized me for 10 years. I put a lot of thought into it....and at that stage of life would expect my family to do the same for me.
I wonder if he told that to Pelosi in regards to her current abortion comments - and the fact that the libs view pregnancy as a serious medical illness. And Barack views it as a punishment.
In effect it takes the wind out of her ‘dying on the floor’ argument because they’re seriously ill, perhaps the floor is where the libs believe they should be.
This isn’t about whether a DNR is a good or bad thing, it’s about making the decision without input from either the patient or the patient’s family. It is very close to euthanasia when doctors intentionally refuse to save a patient who wants to be saved.
Any decision about a DNR order needs to be made by the patient and his family in consultation with the doctor. Doctors have no right to make this decision without input from the patient and family.
Everybody eventually dies. Somebody who’s 95 and their heart stops... Has died. We could everybody on a heart/lung machine and keep the cells from decaying... But they’re still dead. How old should somebody be before they’re allowed to be pronounced dead? 110? 157? How long do we keep the machines running?
You know, it is possible to be totally pro-life and still understand that people do in fact die eventually. I know it’s not popular here on FR, where people with no brain are expected to “live” for 200 years. If you define “Living” as postponing decomposition I suppose it may be possible, but I’m not sure it’s the right thing to do.
My aunt outlived her kid & husband. I watched them throw her on the metaphorical ice flow because she signed one of these horrible things. She could’ve lived another six months or so, but she was inconvenient to everyone but me.
The title of the article was dreadfully inaccurate.
What I take issue with is the idea that NOT providing cardiac pulmonary resuscitation, CPR, to someone dying a natural death of old age is somehow “euthanasia”.
I read the entire article. Then I read the letters commenting on that article. The whole thing was ginned up to be as sensational as possible.
One of the comments came from a doctor who admitted there are horrifying situations in the HHS that need to be rectified. Not discussing with patiints and families their wishes concerning whether extensive efforts to keep a dying patient alive near the end of death should occur, must be discusseed and many times is not due to a crushing work load.
We in the USA have a profit-driven health system that will literally keep people alive to drain every cent possible out of an estate or insurance company. This is the reason my father emphatically insisted that DNR be on all his health records.
In the British HHS there is no profit motive to keep people alive; instead there is every reason to make a person’s time in the health system as short as possible.
I do not want socialized medacine here in the USA, and do not approve of how HHS is operated in Britain. But I dislike sensationalized reporting even less.
So ?????
So what!
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