# EMTs -- DNR outside hospital/hospice **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 30, 2013, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emts-dnr-outside-hospital-hospice/648813 "2013-01-30T14:17:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emts-dnr-outside-hospital-hospice/648813/21 "2013-01-30T21:34:50Z")
> [@VunderBob](#): > > Had another case where we rolled up to the scene for a cardiac arrest. Family said he didn’t want to be resuscitated. We asked where the DNR was, and the answer was he didn’t have one, but did have a living will. Too bad was our answer, and we thumped him all the way to the hospital where he died anyway. Why…The Fuck…Did they call EMS!!! Sorry. Sore point. See it too often. And, lemme ask, since you’re here. If a person isn’t able to communicate and one can’t verify a legally signed POA4H, doesn’t the health care decision making fall to the spouse, then the eldest child and so on down the line like good ol’ primogeniture laws? Or does that not apply for perimedicine? Has anyone ever \*won \*a “Wrongful Life” suit (of the kind we’re talking about here, not the disabled child kind)? I remember it being brought up in an ethics class as having happened locally once, and the case was dismissed. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emts-dnr-outside-hospital-hospice/648813/22 "2013-01-30T21:37:17Z")
Ohioan here. My dear friend’s father, 80, had been on dialysis for over 4 years when he took a turn for the worse and was placed in a nursing home. He told everyone that he was ready to die and had a DNR order drawn up. A few months later, a nurse found him unconscious and called the EMTs. They automatically began CPR, even though they were made aware of the DNR order. As they were in transit, the nurse placed a call to my friend to tell her what had happened and to ask her for guidance on whether to try and continue to revive him. At first, my friend ordered them to continue resuscitation attempts. However, when the nurse explained that when she found him, his pupils were fixed and unresponsive to light, my friend told them to stop. I’m not sure if they followed the exact legal protocol, but this is how his family-run nursing home handled it. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emts-dnr-outside-hospital-hospice/648813/23 "2013-01-30T22:30:20Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Don’t you _want_ to be a reaper? > > StG Only if I could nail Daisy and Georgia in a 3-way… ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emts-dnr-outside-hospital-hospice/648813/24 "2013-01-30T22:33:08Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Why…The Fuck…Did they call EMS!!! > > Sorry. Sore point. See it too often. > > And, lemme ask, since you’re here. If a person isn’t able to communicate and one can’t verify a legally signed POA4H, doesn’t the health care decision making fall to the spouse, then the eldest child and so on down the line like good ol’ primogeniture laws? Or does that not apply for perimedicine? > > Has anyone ever \*won \*a “Wrongful Life” suit (of the kind we’re talking about here, not the disabled child kind)? I remember it being brought up in an ethics class as having happened locally once, and the case was dismissed. I don’t know about a civil suit, but per NC law, willfully ignoring a valid DNR leaves the crew criminally liable for assault. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emts-dnr-outside-hospital-hospice/648813.md?page=1)