DNR tattoos...

A tattoo isn't a legal document.

Well, I was an EMT and would never honor a DNR tatoo. We had to have the DNR paper order in our hands before we could honor it. So don't worry.

That was my first statement to him...

I guess I was just more wondering if you came across, lets just say.. a bad MVA and you pulled him out of his truck and saw he had it tattooed on his chest but that he needed cpr. Would you do it??

We had a 74 y/o patient who had DNR tatooted on her left breast because her children would not agree to make her a DNR. In the end it didn't stand up, she was a full-code but mercifully did not survive.

That was my first statement to him...

I guess I was just more wondering if you came across, lets just say.. a bad MVA and you pulled him out of his truck and saw he had it tattooed on his chest but that he needed cpr. Would you do it??

No because DNR could be short for something else and who would want to make a mistake like that? Not me.

I have seen ICU nurses do CPR on someone - according to them, A DNR tattoo is not legal because it is not signed........

Seems a shame to do it though - I don't think you would get a DNR tattoo unless you had given it some thought beforehand and MEANT it enough to get it tattooed on yourself.

I have seen ICU nurses do CPR on someone - according to them, A DNR tattoo is not legal because it is not signed........

Seems a shame to do it though - I don't think you would get a DNR tattoo unless you had given it some thought beforehand and MEANT it enough to get it tattooed on yourself.

Good Point Diary

That was my first statement to him...

I guess I was just more wondering if you came across, lets just say.. a bad MVA and you pulled him out of his truck and saw he had it tattooed on his chest but that he needed cpr. Would you do it??

Of course you would. Like I said, it's not a legal document. Unless you want your butt sued, you better dang well do it.

i just imagine many pts changing their minds when they suddenly really cant breathe and have chest pain or whatever and dont really want to die right there.....that way .'today'...they will think it shouldve been different....they imagined they would be unconscious and not know interventions were held (i.e. they will not go quietly into the night they realize) ....but being conscious in the beginning can probably change things.....sometimes....

As much as some of us have joked about getting that same tattoo....

Anyway, why not just take the money you're going to spend on the tat and go to a lawyer and have papers drawn up? Better use of the money, legal, and alot less painful, imo.

Having a DNR tatooed on your chest probably looks pretty cool, but it is about as useful as dudes who have "Organ Donor" listed on their driver's license. Unless the family gives final consent with sigs, Old man rivers' cant donate his favorite kidney or have the junior resident pop off the blower and let him meet Jesus if he is clinically brain dead.