I was in "front line" health care for 20 years but have been out now for 20.Back then DNR orders were taken very seriously when issuing them.All the "t's" had to be crossed and all the "i's" dotted.Mental competency had to be determined in many cases.Unless things are much different than I picture them (including such things as California's laws and nurse licensing standards/regulation) somebody's gonna have some 'splainin to do.For an entire health care facility to have such a policy is mind boggling to me but hey...California...the land of fruits and nuts and flakes.
A DNR is a possibility I hadn’t considered and is a valid point.
That being said, if this lady did not have one I’m not sure I could have stood down and not attempted to help if I had that capability. Policy or not. I here there is a “Good Samaratin” law.
A sign of our troubled times, I guess.
Brain damage begins to set in after six minutes, except occasionally in the case of a cold water dry drowning. Hard call to make when your on a first responder dive team. I was on such a team years ago, and had to make that call twice. One lived, the other I had to take a pass. Both very hard calls.
I, also along with my two RN sisters had to make the same call for my 86 year old mother in 06. She had a DNR of her own volition. We respected her wishes.
Assisted living is not a nursing home. The one my uncle is in will not give him meds on a daily basis. They will provide no medical assistance. This is spelled out very clearly at the outset.
Our family has been through the gauntlet from assisted living to full care nursing homes to hospice care.
I know this whole episode sounds cold...but as long as we keep shipping our old folks out to the rest home because they are inconvenient, this is what happens.