The Difficulty of Deciding Whether ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ Is the Best Option for Your Relative
How can you know when death is less painful than life?
A few days ago my mum attended a review of my grandma’s dementia treatment plan at the hospital in which she is currently sectioned. Such reviews are not unusual, they take place every two weeks and have provided us with a sense of comfort that grandma is being looked after by people who genuinely care for her. However, after this last review there little comfort to be had due to the subject matter of the meeting: whether or not we wanted a ‘DNACPR’ order (‘Do Not Attempt Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation’) to be placed on grandma’s medical record.
This following is an explanation of a DNACPR (hereafter abbreviated to ‘DNR’) from the National Health Service for England’s website. I have emboldened the latter part of this quote because it highlights the unique situation of a relative having to make the decision regarding a DNR because the subject of the order doesn’t have the “capacity” to do it themselves:
Everyone has the right to refuse CPR if they wish. You can make it clear to your medical team that you do not want to have CPR if you stop breathing or your heart stops beating. This is known as a do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR)…
