A DNR that went wrong.

[arewethereyet]

When one of my grandmothers got up in years she requested a DNR because her sisters and brother, grandpa and many of her friends were already gone.  Perhaps it's just a person being ready to go and not wanting heroic measures taken.  

It seems that going forward to put a DNR in place that a person's wishes should be followed.  At the end, with my dad, even though he had a DNR and was clearly of sound mind though failing body, he reiterated his wishes to the doctor who then had to meet with one of us kids (me, as it turned out) to make sure dad really, really wanted this.  Dad's DNR was something he updated every few months in his last three years of life but it was still questioned when it got to that point.

I don’t understand how it’s ethically possible to NOT honour a DNR. It doesn’t violate medical ethics or the Hippocratic Oath, it isn’t physician-assisted suicide, it’s not a sanctity of life issue, and it’s certainly not forcible medical treatment. It should be a consenting, competent adult’s inviolate right to decline medical treatment for themselves , no questions asked.

Boru

I agree.  The reason dad kept signing new ones was so no one could claim it was too old to be valid.

But the doctor was determined to get the okay from one of us kids even though my brother, who had the power of attorney, hauled ass before he had to have the conversation.  So I really had no legal leg to stand on to make a decision...anyway the decision had already been made by dad.  I think it was something to make the doctor feel better.

[Angrboda]

Back when I was chronically depressed and wanted to die, I gave instructions that I was not to be resuscitated. Now I'm not sure what I want. Mental health definitely plays into whether a medical directive should be honored, but who gets to judge and on what grounds?

[Jehanne]

When one of my grandmothers got up in years she requested a DNR because her sisters and brother, grandpa and many of her friends were already gone.  Perhaps it's just a person being ready to go and not wanting heroic measures taken.  

It seems that going forward to put a DNR in place that a person's wishes should be followed.  At the end, with my dad, even though he had a DNR and was clearly of sound mind though failing body, he reiterated his wishes to the doctor who then had to meet with one of us kids (me, as it turned out) to make sure dad really, really wanted this.  Dad's DNR was something he updated every few months in his last three years of life but it was still questioned when it got to that point.

I don’t understand how it’s ethically possible to NOT honour a DNR. It doesn’t violate medical ethics or the Hippocratic Oath, it isn’t physician-assisted suicide, it’s not a sanctity of life issue, and it’s certainly not forcible medical treatment. It should be a consenting, competent adult’s inviolate right to decline medical treatment for themselves , no questions asked.

Boru

This woman whom I met seemed to be a bit on the religious side; if she was only cognizant of what she was not getting herself in to!