> Even with all his wishes documented, Jack hadn’t died as he’d hoped. The system had intervened. One of the nurses, I later found out, even reported my unplugging of Jack to the authorities as a possible homicide. Nothing came of it, of course; Jack’s wishes had been spelled out explicitly, and he’d left the paperwork to prove it.
It's interesting that our laws punish homicide with maximum criminal penalties, but the opposite (keeping someone alive against their wishes) seems to be assault and battery at worst, with much much lighter punishment.
If one lives in the US and feels strongly about it, they should file an Out-of-Hospital DNR and POLST with every local hospital. Also consider wearing or carrying official bracelets/necklaces (varies state to state).
I'm neither a lawyer nor a doctor. :)
ggm•1h ago
This point has been made by many medically trained people over decades. It's a very energetic intensive process, it cracks ribs. If it's not done promptly the brain has been starved of oxygen.
While I understand people not wanting to drag politics into everything I invite you to think about this and the situation of the senior senator for Kentucky.
j-conn•43m ago
Overly aggressive resuscitation attempts are definitely a problem but context matters
bonsai_spool•13m ago
You have to provide a denominator to make this statement. 30-day survival for out-of-hospital CPR is 10%, and discharge from the hospital (let alone functional status) is even lower.
CPR is thus a great example of the OP's thesis that doctors refuse certain things based on their poor efficacy.
https://www.redcross.org/take-a-class/resources/articles/cpr...
classichasclass•8m ago
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.123.010...
It's important to get people to realize the benefits of early CPR and more people should be trained on how to do it, or else it won't be prompt and the outcomes will be worse. That's what the Red Cross and AHA promulgate to the public, in so many words.
2bitencryption•17m ago
I feel like lately this is becoming more common knowledge - but still something most people don't realize.
Part of it is probably the fact that it's impossible to depict "real" CPR in popular culture (movies, TV shows, etc) unless the production goes to extreme lengths to use a fake dummy. Even on The Pitt (which seems to make a point of being hyper realistic) I've seen them do "fake" CPR with shallow compressions.