Do Not Resuscitate - An Inconvenient Truth About Our Healthcare System

An Inconvenient Truth About Our Healthcare System Nurses General Nursing

Updated:   Published

An excellent, moving article that really slaps you in the face with some not-so-palatable reality ?

https://medium.com/@mrkjamesbb/do-not-resuscitate-1e4c177dcc92

Specializes in Community Health, Med/Surg, ICU Stepdown.

OMG. Doing that to a newborn is next level evil.

11 Votes
8 minutes ago, LibraNurse27 said:

OMG. Doing that to a newborn is next level evil.

The worst thing about it was that this went on for 13 months!! ?

3 Votes
Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.
1 hour ago, egg122 NP said:

Yes. I have had very heated encounters with nursing home administrators who have undermined putting a patient on hospice in order to continue billing under Medicare Part A. Not to mention the number of providers who advise that they do not want to order wound treatments that speed wound healing since it will decrease the number of times they can bill for debridement. Healthcare is big business and unscrupulous behavior is quite pervasive...

I personally called APS on a catholic church -closely associated SNF where relatives were told that it is "un-Christian" and against will of the God to discontinue futile care and those who made their elderly relatives DNR commit a terrible sin equal to murder.

It was a pure pain to watch those poor people. I do not know what exactly happened there but facility was shut down soon thereafter.

6 Votes
Specializes in Cardiology, Oncology, Hospice,IV Therapy.
3 hours ago, egg122 NP said:

Yes. I have had very heated encounters with nursing home administrators who have undermined putting a patient on hospice in order to continue billing under Medicare Part A. Not to mention the number of providers who advise that they do not want to order wound treatments that speed wound healing since it will decrease the number of times they can bill for debridement. Healthcare is big business and unscrupulous behavior is quite pervasive...

I had the very same thing happen to an uncle of mine that was to be dc back to SNF on hospice from the hospital. I was his POA, was waiting back at the SNF for the hospice nurse while he was transferred back. The hospice nurse told me that the SNF undermined the hospice admission for the same reason. I marched into the supervisor's office( it was 730pm) and demanded to know who took it upon themselves to say he does not need hospice. ( My uncle was clearly declining). She said " Oh, I thought he would benefit from more rehab". I said to her that he is declining and going to die in the next week or so, you are not going to rehab him. I forget what else I said but she stuttered and said okay. He was sent back in 15 minutes and admitted to hospice. I complained about it.?

9 Votes
46 minutes ago, Sue Damonas said:

I had the very same thing happen to an uncle of mine that was to be dc back to SNF on hospice from the hospital. I was his POA, was waiting back at the SNF for the hospice nurse while he was transferred back. The hospice nurse told me that the SNF undermined the hospice admission for the same reason. I marched into the supervisor's office( it was 730pm) and demanded to know who took it upon themselves to say he does not need hospice. ( My uncle was clearly declining). She said " Oh, I thought he would benefit from more rehab". I said to her that he is declining and going to die in the next week or so, you are not going to rehab him. I forget what else I said but she stuttered and said okay. He was sent back in 15 minutes and admitted to hospice. I complained about it.?

I'm sorry you experienced this- so incredibly disheartening and confusing as a family member to find out the discharge plan isn't going to occur. Kudos to you for advocating for your uncle!

4 Votes
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
9 hours ago, KatieMI said:

I personally called APS on a catholic church -closely associated SNF where relatives were told that it is "un-Christian" and against will of the God to discontinue futile care and those who made their elderly relatives DNR commit a terrible sin equal to murder.

It was a pure pain to watch those poor people. I do not know what exactly happened there but facility was shut down soon thereafter.

Funnily enough I did three months in a catholic hospital. Most of the patients had active DNRs, and some of thoese were retired nuns and priests

They wouldnt support euthanasia but did encourage effective palliative and end of life care

10 Votes
Specializes in Hospice Home Care and Inpatient.

You can only teach/ educate so much to people who don't want to listen. It is a grave injustice that heathcare is a very profitable industry. Also a sad comment on US society that allowing people to suffer is justified by " family can't afford ( fill in blank- meds/heat/rent) without the patients check.

8 Votes
On 2/26/2020 at 1:31 PM, Wuzzie said:

I'm sorry but I did not find this moving at all. Gratuitous and un-educated would be more accurate. In the case of a patient like this, at least in my state, the hospital would ask the court to assign a guardian to act in the best interest of the patient. The court, upon reviewing all of the circumstances, can give the guardian authority to agree to a DNR order if the physician deems it appropriate. I have NEVER experienced a physician eager to continue to flog the body of such a patient merely for the revenue and doubt the reimbursement to the hospital would be enough to make the bean counters rub their hands with glee. The only time I have seen this happen is when the FAMILY insists that everything be done regardless of endless hours of education by the medical and nursing staff. Horrible article with absolutely no credible facts to support the author's viewpoint.

Wuzzie, I am a new nurse of 6 years. I can't thank you enough for your insights and applications. Without fail I think to myself "I wish I would have said that". Thank you for sharing.

3 Votes

It's hard for me to believe that actually is happening on a wide scale.

2 Votes
Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
On 2/26/2020 at 1:06 PM, egg122 NP said:

Yes. I have had very heated encounters with nursing home administrators who have undermined putting a patient on hospice in order to continue billing under Medicare Part A. Not to mention the number of providers who advise that they do not want to order wound treatments that speed wound healing since it will decrease the number of times they can bill for debridement. Healthcare is big business and unscrupulous behavior is quite pervasive...

Funny, not funny. My first thought was the LTC I worked in seemed to be a big advocate for Hospice enrollment. Then it occurred to me that push for Hospice seemed to occur shortly after the resident was off Med A. Now the cynical me is asking I wonder if Hospice reimbursement pays less than Med A but more than Medicaid?

3 Votes

This practice used to be commonplace before DNR orders came in.

Thanks for this reminder and let's all make our wished known to our doctors, spouses, kids, anyone who should know.

2 Votes
Specializes in Dialysis.
On 2/26/2020 at 11:14 AM, brownbook said:

It is a horrible story. I just hope, assume, these cases are really, REALLY, rare. I honestly can't imagine any ethical, or health care professional with just plain common sense, doing this to a patient! Maybe I'm naive? I haven't worked ICU/CCU for many years.

It happens more often than not. I saw it so often in LTC that I no longer cringed about it. Now that I'm no longer in that environment, it saddens me to the core

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