The nursing home confiremed its policy is to wait for EMS to get there and start CPR.
What the hell? What satanic vision inspired this policy, what bureaucratic POS dreamed it up? The place is named wrong; it’s Screwtape Gardens.
I am a nurse and an EMT. I cannot imagine working in a place that tells me not to do CPR on someone who wants it done, although I will honor a DNR. If you wait ten minutes for EMS to get there, you might as well not bother with CPR at all.
What bugs me about DNRs is that patient's wishes can change as their condition changes. It's easy to state that you want to be DNR when you don't envision being one any time soon. More than a few times I heard patients express wishes that were contrary to their DNR orders. Sometimes their verbal requests were honored. Sometimes not.
Wonder who called 911 in this story. Someone told the dispatcher that the patient wasn't "breathing enough." If the woman collapsed, perhaps it was another resident or visitor who called. Can you imagine the trauma of watching someone dying in front of you and staff not rendering assistance? Sounds like the dispatcher was aware that others were present since she asked that the phone be given to someone nearby. I hope the poor woman in this story lost consciousness as soon as she collapsed. May she rest in peace.