THIS week’s British Medical Journal features an article by Glasgow GP Margaret McCartney in which she details the case of a nurse working in a nursing home who discovered a patient who was “ waxy, yellow, and almost cold.”
In other words, the patient was dead and had been for some time. Because she did not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation or contact the emergency services, this sensible nurse has been subject to a judgment by the Nursing and Midwifery council that her fitness to practice is impaired, patients are at risk of harm, and the profession has been brought into disrepute; all this presumably because there was no “Do Not Resuscitate” notice
in place.
I am appalled. Despite what medical soaps depict, the chance of successful resuscitation outwith a hospital is extremely low, even if a cardiac arrest is witnessed and treatment started immediately.
It is even lower in a patient who is already old and frail. To attempt it in a corpse is ridiculous, undignified to the body, and stupid. This nurse was not stupid and does not deserve this silly judgment.
Elizabeth M. Rankin Mb ChB,
15 Burnside Road,
Rutherglen,
Glasgow.
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