Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Taking Matters In To Your Own Hands

This is how an 81 year-old woman took control: she tatooed "Do Not RESUSCITATE" on her chest:
Despite having a living will for about 30 years, she said the tattoo meant there was be "no excuse" for error.

"The tattoo is immediate... no excuse for not knowing what I thought," she said.

The grandmother, who is diabetic but said she was not seriously ill, said she got the idea from a retired nurse, who did something similar in 2003.

She said her willingness to not be resuscitated would "save money" for the NHS.
Talk about taking one for the team!

Good for her.

-Wes

(P.S.: Be sure to take the poll in the sidebar to the right!)

P.P.S.: The poll, which asked the following question:

"A cardiac arrest patient is brought to your ER with CPR in progress. A DNR tattoo is seen and no family is available. You would:

1) Continue CPR/ACLS as indicated
2) Stop CPR/ACLS immediately"


There were 85 respondents, 39 (39%) of whom would continue CPR and 53 (60%) who would stop CPR immediately.

3 comments:

  1. What if she changed her mind? Is she going to have the tattoo removed or have it struck through with a line? It would never hold up in court. "I'm sorry, Judge, her chest said 'Do Not Resuscitate'! I assumed she meant it!"

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  2. I suspect most would have wasted their money with the tattoo. The medical system is going to squeeze as much money as possible. I further suspect that only the family might insist that the life saving be terminated... unless you were obviously a beggar with no funds or insurance. IMHO

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  3. Are you sure that doesn't say, "Billy Bob?"

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