This article: The Hidden Harms of CPR, needs to be read by anyone who may think providing CPR to a loved one (whose heart has stopped and they have coded) will bring them back to life and give them a great quality of life.
If the person who is needing CPR is in poor health, has a weak heart or weak lungs, or is in their waning years, CPR is not a life-giving offering.
I've seen the repercussions of last-minute, code-called, CPR, and the trauma not only caused to the patient, but to those being forced to administer CPR and the patients loved ones is devastating. Heart-wrenching.
This statement, from the article, is something my Palliative Care team shares with patients and their families nearly every day: "Reversing a death is not the same as restoring a life."
If you do not have a DNR/DNI in place on your fridge and your health records, please consider doing so.
Again: The Hidden Harms of CPR, written by Sunita Puri, author of That Good Night: Life and Medicine in the Eleventh Hour, which is also a powerful read.
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