From: INVALID_SEE_SIG@example.com.invalid   
      
   In the previous article, danny burstein   wrote:   
   > "I reached the resuscitation as first responder. A 110-year-old lady   
   > is pulseless. I ask the son if he wants a resuscitation and he   
   > ponders for a moment, asks to consult with a doctor. He calls the   
   > hotline while asking what is usually done. There isn't a general   
   > rule but the protocol says to perform resuscitation, so I begin CPR.   
      
   Where I used to live, "protocol" unambiguously required a signed DNR   
   order, which was a specific form sanctioned by the county medical   
   director.  If the family was standing there saying "don't do CPR," we   
   ignored them and proceeded.  I am not proud to say I have desecrated a   
   few corpses this way.  Ugh.   
      
   In EVERY case where the family asked for no CPR, once the paramedics   
   arrived they immediately had us cease our efforts.  Paramedics have   
   discretion; lowly EMTs and MFRs do not.   
      
   Where I live now, the chief of the responding crew, an EMT, has   
   discretion to proceed or not, and the results are far more civilized.   
   I will allow as how there might be the occasional revivable person who   
   is written off as a result of that discretion, but I seriously doubt   
   that actually happens.  First responders *love* doing CPR and will not   
   lightly pass up an opportunity for it.   
   --   
     _+_ From the catapult of |If anyone objects to any statement I make, I am   
   _|70|___:)=}- J.D. Baldwin |quite prepared not only to retract it, but also   
   \      /  baldwin@panix.com|to deny under oath that I ever made it.-T. Lehrer   
   ***~~~~----------------------------------------------------------------------   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)