PeteyGirl
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2008
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No, the DNR is a decision reached with the family, always. At least the official DNR order.
What happened here was there was a pre-existing DNR, already agreed upon.
The problem occurred when the medical staff decided to withdraw life-sustaining treatment against the parent's wishes. The parents wanted more time with Joseph.
We have many folks with DNR requests, but we don't just withdraw treatment. If they have pneumonia, we treat with antibiotics, oxygen and respiratory therapy. We just don't do CPR and put them on a ventilator if they were to suddenly stop breathing/circulating.
It is a separate decision, made by both family, patient and medical staff, when to actually STOP treating the person so they can pass away peacefully. If the patient is unable to participate in the decision, then the family calls the shots, or at least, they should.
Sometimes, rarely in my experience as an oncology nurse, the family wants us to fight to the very end, IN SPITE of the dismal prognosis. In that case, our doctors and us nurses explain carefully (and hopefully with great sensitivity) that further treatment will either fail to do anything or it will prolong suffering. Even then, some families insist we continue doing everything in our power. And, we do. Those are very hard on the doctors and nurses, to be doing painful, aggressive treatment on a person who is dying before our eyes, and should be made comfortable.
In my view, we medical staff need to put aside our discomfort for the sake of the family, who is losing a loved one and having their last memories of them alive. Memories and impressions and emotions they will live with the rest of their lives. Imagine your last memories of your child being tainted with a fight like the parents of Joseph had? To me, that is immoral. It's as simple as putting yourself in another person's place. Too often, our own suffering as caregivers becomes more important than the suffering of the family. For the nurses I work with, we partially suffer for ourselves, but mostly suffer for the patient, who we know is suffering MORE because we are running them through a CT scan when they should be in a quiet room surrounded by family.
Yeah, I'm really preachin' it :innocent: , I know. Something I feel so strongly about, though, and the plight of Joseph's family has impacted the way I hope to do my own job. Our unit does most of the end-of-life care for the entire hospital.
