what would do you in this kind of situation?

Specialties Geriatric

Published

what would you do if you go into patients room and find out that patient have expired and patient is a full code?

Specializes in home health.
Get a big DNR tattooed across your chest and you'll be fine.

I've actually looked into this. No Go.

It's not a legal document, EMS will not honor it.

Didn't think to check to find out if they'd honor it if signature of MD was tatooed there though...

Specializes in Trauma ICU,ER,ACLS/BLS instructor.

If someone is found in a post mortum state,dead, no chance of bringing them back, it is unethical and poor judgement to go pounding on their chest.You might not agree, and cya is always the safe way to go, but I am just saying what is ethical and within our licence. We can not legally "pronounce", but we certainly know when rigor has set in and someone has been gone for more then a few minutes. Ask someone on an ethics committee what they say. I am betting they will agree. It costs money and time to code someone, and we have to do it,even when we do not want to. But there are limits to expectations. Documentation is key, and will hold up in a court of law. Now , if one chooses to jump on a cold chest and do cpr, go for it. Not me. I have had this happen before and never had any backlash.

Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.
I've actually looked into this. No Go.

It's not a legal document, EMS will not honor it.

Didn't think to check to find out if they'd honor it if signature of MD was tatooed there though...

OKAY then. I guess I'll skip the "no g-tube" tat on my abdomen and the "no thickened liquids" tat on my throat.

In Massachusetts it IS legal for RNs to pronounce after calling the doc. If this is going to be a conversation about ethics, then let's talk about the ethics of doing CPR on a 98 year old even if you do find them before they get cold. As several other posters have said, families often have very unrealistic ideas. I went into a room once-patient in bed with 02 running...obviously dead. His wife was sitting there. I told her I was very sorry but she wouldn't believe that he was dead because 'no alarm went off'. She then explained to me that she watched ER every week so she knows 'lots of medical things' and every time someone with that machine (she pointed to the oxygen concentrator) dies, an alarm goes off. She wouldn't listen to my explanation so I had to call the doc to come in and tell her (you can imagine how pleased he was to have to actually do the pronouncement). Luckily the man was a DNR but......

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