nation

One wonders if Mom why if Mom felt so strongly about no intervention, why there was no Do Not Resuscitate order. Perhaps there is a big inheritance on the way to the family and members were anxious to have Mom out of the way.

If the woman who identified herself as a nurse, is in fact NOT a nurse, then quit calling her that in the story. Not every bystander is trained in CPR. My sympathies to the family. For others reading this--have an advanced directive, be clear about resuscitation orders, and instructions when to call 911.

The tragedy here is that our end of life choices have become a matter of public concern, what with liability, modern communication, and all. Why does our society think "we" know best and put caregivers in the position of doing what they know an individual doesn't want, for lack of a "legal" document? The woman's family agrees that she did not want CPR. CPR in the field rarely saves a life and often causes harm to the deceased, the rescuers, and their families. Shame on us.

This will become more commonplace after Obamacare is in place and determines life-sustaining orders. They already do this in the UK and Canada.

There are a hundred reasons a person who didn't want to be resuscitated might not have an order on record. Perhaps her family didn't file her living will with the EMS (or know they needed to). Perhaps they'd just arrived at that decision and hadn't time to notarize the document to make it legal. Perhaps, they never dreamed that an EMS dispatcher would attempt to over-ride her day-by-day care givers. What kind of nation are we to sensationalize the death of an individual whose family agrees the right thing was done?

It's like the instructions my 90+ year old father-in-law gave to my 80+ year old mother-in-law: "My bags are packed and I'm ready to go so if something happens to me don't be too quick to call the ambulance." Thank you to the family for stating clearly the wishes of the lady who died. Many of us feel the same way as she did.

Good question, Forpeople. At best the explanation from the home and the family is inconsistent with the actions of the administrator on hand at the time of the incident, and the 'nurse' who dialed 911, at worst there is some kind of cover-up going on. If the deceased wanted no measures taken to save her life, as is claimed by the home and family, then why was 911 dialed? If dialing 911 is standard protocol for situations like this, then why did the 'nurse' not inform the 911 operator of why she, or anyone else could not help the now deceased. Regardless of what the real story is, the Home clearly did a poor job of training this individual how to respond in this situation, and more disturbingly, it is also clear the 'nurse' either lied about her occupational status and simply didn't know what to do, or she really is a nurse but is not only poorly trained, but has a complete lack of common sense, ability to answer even simple questions, capacity to think clearly when a person is in need of medical attention. Regardless, the 'nurse' does not deserve to keep her job, and the administrator(s) will and should feel the brunt of the outrage.

Supervon - yeah, government workers are going to be cruising the streets searching for folks in distress to make sure they don't receive medical attention. You better hope that it's the Publishers Clearinghouse van pulling up in front of your house instead of the Obamacare van. Do folks stay up at night thinking this stuff up or what?

I can say, she knew what care the facility would and wouldn't do, I cannot understand, ethically, how someone can stand by and not try to save another person's life.

RE: Mandansmom, "CPR in the field rarely saves a life and often causes harm to the deceased, the rescuers, and their families" That is an outright lie. As a member of my local volunteer fire department, thankfully I have never had to perform CPR on a victim, but I have numerous friends and colleagues that have, and they have saved numerous lives. My former roommate was solely responsible for saving the life of a 15 year old girl who's heart was barely beating and was not breathing after a motorcycle accident. Another friend performed CPR in an ambulance for 30 minutes until they reached the hospital. Both victims lived because CPR was performed promptly and properly. Of course people often die even though is CPR is administered. Yes it can cause serious injury to the victim (broken ribs are often the result). But I would like to explain how CPR harms a DEAD PERSON. Also, can you give us an example of CPR harming the EMT or first responder? Even if you can, that EMT chose to be there to help. Lastly, how is the family of a deceased person harmed by and EMT's attempt to save a life?? The lack of logic in your comment is mind boggling.