DNR Do not Resuscitate
This is what they ask you in hospital. If you hesitate, they may tell you that the signs are not looking good (my mother), ask if the person had any quality of life, or say they would not have any quality of life if they recovered.
When I went to hospital my mother was put into a bed with the sign above it, Nil By Mouth.
We were asked if we wanted to sign to agree to Do Not Resuscitate. I was over-ruled by my father. As next of kin, he had the last word. I was shocked to learn that I could do nothing.
Only after I got home, and we were phoned to say that she had died, by a nurse who was in tears, did I start to question whether we had given the go ahead for an injection of such a high dose of pain-killing morphine that it would kill her.
I had a car accident in 1984 in Corsica. I was knocked down by a car. I was bleeding from my ear - not a good sign. I had had a bump on her forehead. (I still have a small scar.) I was unconscious.
Four nurses who were on holiday thought I would not survive. They were wrong.
I had multiple injuries. But I survived.
Here I am today, in 2015, more than thirty years later, writing more sense than a lot of people.
I know what my mother would have said or not said. She would have said: While there's life, there's hope. I have told my family - make sure you try to resuscitate me.
This is what they ask you in hospital. If you hesitate, they may tell you that the signs are not looking good (my mother), ask if the person had any quality of life, or say they would not have any quality of life if they recovered.
When I went to hospital my mother was put into a bed with the sign above it, Nil By Mouth.
We were asked if we wanted to sign to agree to Do Not Resuscitate. I was over-ruled by my father. As next of kin, he had the last word. I was shocked to learn that I could do nothing.
Only after I got home, and we were phoned to say that she had died, by a nurse who was in tears, did I start to question whether we had given the go ahead for an injection of such a high dose of pain-killing morphine that it would kill her.
I had a car accident in 1984 in Corsica. I was knocked down by a car. I was bleeding from my ear - not a good sign. I had had a bump on her forehead. (I still have a small scar.) I was unconscious.
Four nurses who were on holiday thought I would not survive. They were wrong.
I had multiple injuries. But I survived.
Here I am today, in 2015, more than thirty years later, writing more sense than a lot of people.
I know what my mother would have said or not said. She would have said: While there's life, there's hope. I have told my family - make sure you try to resuscitate me.
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