Originally Posted by Dental Hygienist
I wonder what the legal considerations are if a person has a DNR and then "mysteriously" gets a fatal dose of narcotics? Would there likely be an investigation?
In roughly 15 years of nursing, 12 in oncology, I have dealt with maybe 4 eathes hat were autopsied, all full codes.
I have never had a no-code was autopsied. As it goes, unless the family or loved ones push for investigation, there will not be one. The issue is, unless there is evidence to the contrary, some ODs get listed as an accidental misadventure. Thus, no legal issues to deal with.
The problem is, in most families, there are the ones that advocate a painless death, those that want things to be "natural", and the others that want every last intervention done no matter what. Even if the rest agree to not intervene in natural death, that other one may cause enough trouble, to make HCWers fear a lawsuit.
I have known pts that probably killed themselves, or had a family member/SO most likely assist....as they had severe disease or were terminal, there was no postmortem thus no absolute proof. The MDs will not order an autopsy unless something in the case requires it, and many MEs will allow those cases to not be autopsied unless there is significant pressure/reason.
It tends to be one of those "Don't ask, don't tell" things, at least in many Oncology practices.
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