> But the woman was already dead — her heart had stopped. And according to family, the woman had wished to “die naturally and without any kind of life-prolonging intervention.”
so why did the nurses in the living facility call 911? i would assume anyone who calls 911 for a medical emergency wants life-prolonging intervention. wouldn’t there be another number or some kind of protocol for a senior at a facility who has a DNR and is actively dying?
I remember bringing up an Advanced Decision with my GP a few years back and he was genuinely surprised that someone my age would be that “proactive”. I had a witness sign it but the GP went through it with me again covering some of the details that I’ve not even considered. I have to say, it was a relief having that in place when Covid hit. Now I just have to renew it regularly for it to remain effective.
I remember the first time I did CPR on a 80yo, it was like crunching a bag of chips… Had we gotten pulses back she would have died from the rest of the trauma.
It depends. I was in a coma post-surgery and had five codes in less than 24 hours, including a 12 minute and an eighteen minute one. I came out of it with rib fractures from the chest compressions. I was 54 years old. A code under those circumstances does not, IMO, implicate a DNR order (which I had)–lots and lots of people get brought back from code blues.
Fuck people who don’t have the balls to sign a DNR for there loved ones that need to go. I had to do CPR on a 92 year old Alzheimer’s patient. Eventually left clinical healthcare after that.
In medicine. Have done CPR including on geriatrics, like we’re talking on top of them on the stretcher putting a significant amount of force into their chest. The bones breaking under your hands including the sound of it isn’t something you forget. Those last few moments you want to spend with meemaw causes a healthcare team to perform CPR and effective CPR done on a person of that age literally crushes a large segment of their ribcage more often than not. On someone younger bones might break, they might not. On someone older it’s pretty much a 100% chance to break bones and very low chance of survival. If they do survive they have to deal with the joy of broken bones, trouble breathing because of it, and also the threat of a shard of bone piercing an artery or puncturing an organ.
I speak as someone on the other end of it too. I almost drowned and my best friend had to perform CPR with rescue breathing in an attempt to get me to cough up the water in my lungs and start breathing on my own. It cracked a few ribs and she said she held back at first before remembering the course I dragged her to and pushed harder on the compressions, and also adrenaline kicking in helped. It sucked. It was painful to breath for a month or so and on top of that I developed pneumonia because of the fluid in my lungs which made it worse. But it was effective and I would give her a kidney or a lung or whatever if she needed it. She saved my life, I’d save hers if I could.
So yeah. A natural death “may be” (definitely is) preferable. Stop being selfish. Let your loved ones die with dignity and don’t tarnish their memory for that one last moment. Even if you don’t support MAID you should at least support not turning grandma into a human bellows.
The very first thing I used to tell people in the waiting room when I asked them whether they really wanted us to do CPR on their loved one or not is how good CPR usually breaks ribs so I wanted them to understand that if we were able to bring their loved one back, they were going to be in excruciating pain for days, weeks, or months because of the process used to bring them back. Many people are unaware of the fact that ribs often get broken and it’s interesting how when elderly people know that, they are not quite as interested in getting CPR.
I remember a patient coded suddenly on the way back to the ward from dialysis. We had to do CPR on him. When he woke he was screaming from pain in his chest. That’s what happens when you’re chest gets caved in from CPR.
walkingtalkingdread says
> But the woman was already dead — her heart had stopped. And according to family, the woman had wished to “die naturally and without any kind of life-prolonging intervention.”
so why did the nurses in the living facility call 911? i would assume anyone who calls 911 for a medical emergency wants life-prolonging intervention. wouldn’t there be another number or some kind of protocol for a senior at a facility who has a DNR and is actively dying?
boardgamejoe says
I’m 46 and work in healthcare. Codes are so ghastly and awful that I want to be a DNR already.
CPR Rarely saves lives anyway, it mostly prolongs death.
HaoSunUWaterloo says
Please select mode of death. Quick and painless, or slow and horrible.
Upper-Job5130 says
As a healthcare worker, this is not oniony
Safkhet says
I remember bringing up an Advanced Decision with my GP a few years back and he was genuinely surprised that someone my age would be that “proactive”. I had a witness sign it but the GP went through it with me again covering some of the details that I’ve not even considered. I have to say, it was a relief having that in place when Covid hit. Now I just have to renew it regularly for it to remain effective.
ShebaWasTalking says
I remember the first time I did CPR on a 80yo, it was like crunching a bag of chips… Had we gotten pulses back she would have died from the rest of the trauma.
Honestly, once I break 70 I don’t want CPR.
ChadmeisterX says
Some people, including a woman I once met, have DNR tattooed on their chest.
daveashaw says
It depends. I was in a coma post-surgery and had five codes in less than 24 hours, including a 12 minute and an eighteen minute one. I came out of it with rib fractures from the chest compressions. I was 54 years old. A code under those circumstances does not, IMO, implicate a DNR order (which I had)–lots and lots of people get brought back from code blues.
Affectionate_Most_64 says
Isn’t that called a DNR?
Rosebunse says
Me personally, I want everything done to save me…up to a point.
DLife4Me says
Fuck people who don’t have the balls to sign a DNR for there loved ones that need to go. I had to do CPR on a 92 year old Alzheimer’s patient. Eventually left clinical healthcare after that.
liberal_meateater says
Been in too many cardiac arrests to remember and have seen the phenomenon of CPR causing awareness.
Personally, I don’t want it done to me.
Jennyferr0412 says
In medicine. Have done CPR including on geriatrics, like we’re talking on top of them on the stretcher putting a significant amount of force into their chest. The bones breaking under your hands including the sound of it isn’t something you forget. Those last few moments you want to spend with meemaw causes a healthcare team to perform CPR and effective CPR done on a person of that age literally crushes a large segment of their ribcage more often than not. On someone younger bones might break, they might not. On someone older it’s pretty much a 100% chance to break bones and very low chance of survival. If they do survive they have to deal with the joy of broken bones, trouble breathing because of it, and also the threat of a shard of bone piercing an artery or puncturing an organ.
I speak as someone on the other end of it too. I almost drowned and my best friend had to perform CPR with rescue breathing in an attempt to get me to cough up the water in my lungs and start breathing on my own. It cracked a few ribs and she said she held back at first before remembering the course I dragged her to and pushed harder on the compressions, and also adrenaline kicking in helped. It sucked. It was painful to breath for a month or so and on top of that I developed pneumonia because of the fluid in my lungs which made it worse. But it was effective and I would give her a kidney or a lung or whatever if she needed it. She saved my life, I’d save hers if I could.
So yeah. A natural death “may be” (definitely is) preferable. Stop being selfish. Let your loved ones die with dignity and don’t tarnish their memory for that one last moment. Even if you don’t support MAID you should at least support not turning grandma into a human bellows.
Ande64 says
The very first thing I used to tell people in the waiting room when I asked them whether they really wanted us to do CPR on their loved one or not is how good CPR usually breaks ribs so I wanted them to understand that if we were able to bring their loved one back, they were going to be in excruciating pain for days, weeks, or months because of the process used to bring them back. Many people are unaware of the fact that ribs often get broken and it’s interesting how when elderly people know that, they are not quite as interested in getting CPR.
JasonP27 says
I remember a patient coded suddenly on the way back to the ward from dialysis. We had to do CPR on him. When he woke he was screaming from pain in his chest. That’s what happens when you’re chest gets caved in from CPR.