Posted on 03/28/2018 2:41:40 PM PDT by Twotone
Patients beware. When you’re admitted to a hospital, you’re routinely encouraged to sign a DNR, short for Do Not Resuscitate order. Don’t assume it will apply only in extreme circumstances. New research shows having those three letters — DNR — on your chart could put you on course to getting less medical and nursing care throughout your stay. Fewer MRIs and CT scans, fewer medications, even fewer bedside visits from doctors. A DNR could cost you your life.
They even hesitate to put DNR patients in the ICU when they need intensive care.
No wonder patients with DNRs have far worse recovery rates than patients with identical conditions and no DNRs. Women are especially affected.
Hip fracture surgery patients who opt for DNRs reduce their chances of surviving their hospital stay. At Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, researchers found that “mortality was over two times greater” for patients with DNRs than those without them.
DNR means if your heart stops or you can’t breathe, medical staff will let you die naturally, instead of rushing to give you cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Correctly interpreted, a DNR bars just that one procedure, resuscitation. But scientists are discovering that many doctors and nurses take DNR to mean you want end-of-life care only. They misconstrue DNR as Dying Not Recovering.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Most health care professionals would not choose to be resuscitated. Few laymen have seen what is really involved. Usually resuscitative measures ensure that your last few moments on this planet are painful and chaotic rather than the peaceful passing most of us wish for. Few “codes” are successful, and those that are rarely lead to a meaningful recovery. There are exceptions usually in younger basically healthy individuals
If there is a DNR order signed by a physician paramedics honor that. I give my patients several copies and tell them to post one on the refrigerator and one on the bedroom door. Short of a signed order by a licensed provider, they are obligated to do full resuscitative measures
If you suffer cardiopulmonary arrest there is no time to try to contact your durable power of attorney. You either resuscitate or you don’t. If there is no DNR you will get the full treatment. It’s not as pretty as they show on TV shows however.
If a person still has enough of a neurological system that they can be resuscitated, there is no reason to believe that the pain cannot be transmitted and registered by the brain. That is why when you wake up from surgery, you feel so beat. The pain is still transmitted, you just can't do anything about it.
I call BS. There is a very clear difference between DNR and comfort care and any competent physician let alone nurse knows the difference. Every patient I admit to the hospital I spend time clarifying exactly what their wishes are as should every medical peofessional
True but I think most of us would prefer to die peacefully not with 20 people in the room pounding on our chest, shocking us and sticking large needles and tubes everywhere and not gently
I refuse to sign MOST orders that allow cpr but no tube or vice verse. It makes no sense. You either get the whole package or nothing
Really. I treat hospitalized patients day in and day out. I couldn’t tell you if any of them are organ donors. It is totally irrelevant to how I care for them.
I’ve seen what they are saying a few times...i would ask a nurse about specific lab information regarding the patient I was consulted on (I am not an MD).and they would say...”don’t worry....he or she is DNR”....I would retort....DNR doesnt mean “do not treat”..or “please let die”....or give them less than the best care. I can understand a nurses frustration but that attitude really pi**ed me off.Cuz every now and then someone who is DNR survives and is released alive from the hospital..
Just wow.
I will be sure to add such instructions plus the separate DNI
Man it gets harder to make them leave you alone. I want palliative care that makes me comfortable. I’m having to add all these do nots.
So I would think
https://www.propublica.org/article/how-many-die-from-medical-mistakes-in-us-hospitals
I have multiple DNR patients daily who leave the hospital in better shape than they came in. Most DNR patients admitted with the DNR do fine. The exception is the DNR obtained in the hospital just prior to death. Those patients obviously have a high death rate in the hospitals. The DNR does not affect care unless the patient actually arrests
YOu can contact the organ donor program that was used and tell them that you’d like to contact the donee.They will forward your letter to the recipient and the recipient decides if they want personal contact, or if they would like to communicate through the organ donor org.
When my husband died suddenly 4 yrs ago, he was kept on machines for 4 days in order for all the donations to be lined up. I know he wanted to donate, he even thought far enough ahead to have it put on his driver’s license (which no one from the hospital thought to check, but my word was acceptable). I still wonder though if I did the right thing, making him stay for those days. Of course, it helps a lot to believe in God and know that my husband left us the second the bullet entered his brain. Gotta remember to include God in the decision-making process!
You should try to contact the person. That’s so awesome that your brother was able to provide a life for someone!!
My heart did stop about five years ago and it took quite a bit of work to get it going again. There was nothing destructive about my resuscitation, thank you very much.
Thats very good. I am glad you.have such a good outcome record. My complaint was that the desire to still do timely and appropriate care was lessened...if someone is having trouble breathing the call to a pulmonologist might be delayed..which i am sure you are aware could make it more likely for an adverse cardiac event ....and presto...pt. is DNR. The statement is “Well...the was DNR for a reason...so would have probably died anyway” I.have seen a physician managing a code blue pronounce a patient dead...go tell the family about the demise of the patient...then when the physican came back to bedside...the patient developed a pressure and heartbeat...pt died 2 days later...but I wouldnt want to see the scene when.doc sees family again and had to.say...”the death of your loved one was highly exaggerated” sorry bout that chief..
Thanks for confirming my post at #19.
Thank you for what you do. I had CPR from an EMT for about 20 minutes some five years ago. You win a few, lose a few. It worked out well for me.
I dont need a pulmonologist to manage difficulty breathing and difficulty breathing leads to adverse pulmonary not cardiac events. I have run more codes than you can shake a stick at and have never had a patient come back after calling a code. But I bow to your superior experience you obviously see the world the way you want to.
Seen a few other things...that you don't want to know about.
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