Do not resuccitate

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andy12399

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do not give DNR blindly, I had a situation with my mother, health professionals loved to have dnr asap so they can relax. Also it does not look bad on them if the patient dies. We withheld dnr and she lived year and half longer.
 
A DNR is up to the individual in the end. Guess you can discuss it with family members and they can decide, but it is not necessarily a bad thing. My dad was a heart patient; had four open-heart surgeries. Heart stopped on the table in number four and was brain dead; had a DNR. After a few days of testing to be sure there was no way he was coming back, my mom had him removed from life support. That was his wish. My mom had a stroke and is in a nursing home, the last place she ever wanted to be; her mom died in one and I remember it well. My mom also has a DNR.

A living will combined with a DNR is a good thing and can be very specific or very simple. Mine says I don’t want to be kept alive by extraordinary measures if I’m brain dead, but I don’t want nutrition and water withheld (think Terri Shiavo).

Glad your mom lived longer!
 
andy12399 said:
do not give DNR blindly, I had a situation with my mother, health professionals loved to have dnr asap so they can relax. Also it does not look bad on them if the patient dies. We withheld dnr and she lived year and half longer.
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There is a big push for DNRs in the hospital, and I used to be anti DNR until I started working there. Seeing cases first hand really turned me around.
You have choices when picking advanced directives. DNRCC-A (Do not Resuscitate Comfort Care- Arrest) is always a safe route to go. They will do everything they can for the patient, such as medical intervention. If the pt. crashes they will also do everything, but CPR. This is reasonable because if you have ever seen someone doing CPR on a 95 year old, its not pretty.
There is also just regular DNRCC(Do not Resuscitate Comfort Care). DNRCCs are terminal. This patients are usually given alot of pain medicine to remain comfortable. I don’t think there is anything wrong with letting nature take it’s course with some of the people. We aren’t proactively helping them die. We just make them comfortable.

I agree though. There are MANY nurses who get upset when they get an elderly pt. who still is a full code. It definitely irritates me too. I don’t know if its fear of the pt. going sour or a matter of relaxation, or maybe a mix of both. I bet anything that if it was their grandma or mother, they would want them to do everything they could.

On the flip side of that, there are patients who should be DNRs but are not. Families can’t stand to lose the person, or are benefiting from them in some way. (Soc. Sec. Checks, pensions, and so on.) Its really sad.

But either way I think searching04 was right
Its up to the individual in the end
 
Hmmm… I think a DNR on an elderly/terminal patient is fine and often good. A full code on an 85 year old patient can be very gruesome and not something most practitioners enjoy participating in.

Some people believe that extending life to the absolute maximum is a positive outcome. That’s not how I feel, and not how I’d want my parents or my own body treated. Of course, it is ultimately up to the patient, how comfortable they are with the interventions used in a full code (CPR can break the ribs of the robust, and crush the rib cages of the frail), and how ready they are for their Earthly life to come to an end.

A lot of money and energy is spent on keeping elderly/senile/terminal patients alive for another week, another month… And it’s controversial, to say the least. That’s why it’s SO IMPORTANT for everyone to have their wishes on how they’d like their body treated put into writing, so that the family can make appropriate choices toward the end without guilt or second-guessing.
 
andy12399 said:
do not give DNR blindly, I had a situation with my mother, health professionals loved to have dnr asap so they can relax. Also it does not look bad on them if the patient dies. We withheld dnr and she lived year and half longer.
Click to expand...
As a former certified first responder, I had to deal with a case of DNR. It was not “relaxing”. Standing aside and watching a man die while his granddaughter bawled holding his hands is NOT a good feeling. Knowing you can save someone and watching them die is no fun either. Sure, there are cases where a DNR seems more merciful (the frail 85 year old, for example), but that doesn’t make watching a human being die any easier.

Second, it sounds to me like your mother had a DNR, which you did not inform the health care professionals of… is that the case?
 
my dad has a dnr

he’s been terminal stage 4 for a long time now

he didn’t go to his dr appt today

this is going to be hard

my dad was given 2 years to live back in '04

but now it’s time

it’s hard letting go

gonna put my dad in st joseph’s hands

please keep me in your prayers
 
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