Posted on 12/01/2017 9:16:26 AM PST by BenLurkin
Doctors in Miami faced an unusual ethical dilemma when an unconscious, deteriorating patient was brought into the emergency room with the words “Do Not Resuscitate” across his chest.
The 70-year-old man was taken earlier this year to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where doctors made their startling discovery: a chest tattoo that seemed to convey the patient's end-of-life wishes. The word “Not” was underlined, and the tattoo included a signature.
It left the medical team grappling with myriad ethical and legal questions.
...
Holt said the patient, who had a history of pulmonary disease, lived at a nursing home but was found intoxicated and unconscious on the street and brought to Jackson Memorial.
He arrived with no identification, no family or friends, and no way to tell doctors whether he wanted to live or die.
Holt said the man had an infection that led to septic shock, which causes organ failure and extremely low blood pressure.
When his blood pressure started to drop, emergency room doctors called Holt, who specializes in pulmonary disease — and they first agreed not to honor the tattoo, “invoking the principle of not choosing an irreversible path when faced with uncertainty,” according to the case study.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
“invoking the principle of not choosing an irreversible path when faced with uncertainty”
I think I would have made the same choice. A tattoo is not a contract. It may be just a motto, or a decoration. Maybe he got it when he was drunk.
and no way to tell doctors whether he wanted to live or die.
I would say he had a unique and obvious way of telling the doctors.
A close relative was a frequent flyer from the nursing home to the ER.
The EMTs refused to read the cover of the file that was emblazoned with DNR.
It is all a sick game to generate billable trips. /s
I’ve heard an old story of someone who needed their leg amputated. They took a marker and wrote on the right leg: “Take this one”.
In the operating room, the surgeon exposed the left leg and started sawing. Never paid attention to the right leg — why bother? The Doc was sure the left leg was the problem ... so he just got to work.
This is what happens when you are brought to “St. God” hospital in Idiocracy.
My wife and I have discussed this option re the tats.
We are in basically good health. We are not alcoholics nor druggies or both.
Resuscitate him. A tattoo is not a legally executed DNR order.
We finally see something we confer on!.
I’ve often said the only tattoo I would ever get would be one that said “BT O-”.
I will now add to that “Damn right I want to be resuscitated!”
Actually, it can be. It may be that local laws require it to be notorized but if not, its legal. I learned in law school about a check written on a cow. The court ruled it was negotiable.
I think he made it very clear what he intended.
Urban myth.
Fake news.
I’ve got a friend that’s a doctor and he has one of those tattoos, right over the heart. He says he actually expects it will be ignored, but when he wakes up with broken rips and electrical burns he plans to be pissed.
“I think he made it very clear what he intended.”
I think there’s a good chance you’re right, but when it comes to letting someone die, there should be very little room for doubt.
Now what if he had been younger and in pretty good condition but had a potentially fatal injury? Would the doctors have been quick to honor the DNR tattoo and send his body to the chop shop to be parted out?
My wife did that before I had some complicated foot surgery.
She used a
black Sharpie and wrote “No!” several times on my right foot.
Then, she used a Red Sharpie to make a bulls eye target on my left foot and a big Yes in red.
The doctor at first didn’t think was funny. His OR RNs knew my wife, as a good RN for over 40 years. They said, “We wish every patient had these markings!”
On the followup visits, the Doctor would joke with my wife and ask her which foot he should look at.
Wonder what the backstory is?
But there is no way for the ER docs or EMTs to know in real time. They have seconds to make that decision. They aren't lawyers and if they guess wrong it's their ass. If he wakes up and he wants to be dead, well.... he can always choose to exercise that option.
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