Talking about DNACPR orders, I'm reminded that my own father had a futile resuscitation attempt at the end of his life. He was found collapsed after breakfast on a hospital ward, he had been admitted with a chest infection complicating chronic lung problems caused by years of heavy smoking.
I wasn't there, I lived 2 hours away although by coincidence I was travelling down that day anyway. So I don't know if my father was aware of the resus attempts, but I hope he wasn't. My father was in a residential home with dementia and other medical problems. After my mum died, he didn't really want to live. He certainly wouldn't have wanted CPR.
As a former medic, maybe I should have thought about the issue of my father's resus status. It may have been partly that I would have assumed that a sensible doctor wouldn't have considered resuscitation. These issues should be discussed without worrying about upsetting relatives, although I think resuscitation status is a decision that the treating medical team are in the best position to decide, guided by input from the patient and/or relatives.
Universal CPR as a secular rite of passage is misguided and an unfortunate effect of medico-legal concerns. I applaud the efforts to allow a peaceful, natural death from physicians like Dr Gordon Caldwell @drcaldwell
