daniela -“I do not think the lady had Alzheimer because she was living in a low-care setting.”
You got things mixed up. My reply about dementia was to 2 scents about the case I invented to him so he could understand the facility’s employee’s reaction. I did Not research the case of the news article and I have no idea about whether this pt. had dementia or not.
“The very fact that an employee called 911 suggests there is no MD on duty on the site.”
There could have been a Doc there or Not -I have no idea. 911 is called in emergencies -many times the calls come from Doctor’s offices and a Doc is there.
“It also suggests the facility does not routinely asks patients and family to either sign a DNR or express their wish to be resuscitated: with a DNR, assuming 911 is called (it is absurd as you said already, but it may well be called, just to cover their backs and document everything independently), the recording would have been different, with the nurse stating that the patient has a DNR and the document is in her hands and will be shown to EMT upon their arrival.”
Like I said I have no idea about the policies of this facility, but you cannot deduce one way or another. I think I read somewhere that the family stated the pt. did have a DNR. Anyway acc. to what I read here she was still breathing at the time of the original call -where you still have to treat. The DNR does not apply as of yet.
Let me explain you how it works in nursing homes -that I used to respond to. The care in these other facilities will be less, not more. A person starts having difficulty breathing -they call 911 -they don’t go to check the chart. If the pt. codes -yes then they go running to check the chart for a DNR because they don’t want to do CPR. If the pt has a DNR -then they don’t do anything, if Not they do start CPR.
In all liklihood, this nurse or whatever she was, in this case didn’t even know or care whether this pt. had a DNR or not.
She just was doing what she is ordered to do – A pt. has an emergency -call 911, but don’t touch the pt. The DNR in this case is Not going to prevent her from doing CPR because she isn’t doing it anyway acc. to the facility’s policy.
The reason that this case made the news, because this happens every single day across the US, is simply because of the emotional plea of the dispatcher. S/o thought the 911 tape would make a good story. It did; but what all the readers thought was this was an one time deal and therefore all the posts with their outrage. They don’t have a clue that this goes on all the time and their outrage should be at the Gov. who made the facilities have these type of policies!