I wasn't aware that the Emergency resident forum had an identical thread. Sorry for double posting
. But I see several parallels. One thing that was mentioned is that we don't know what caused her to go down in the dining hall of an independent living facility. I really appreciate the medical students and physicians here who have been on codes, it adds excellent perspective to the situation.
But since at the moment CPR is what comes to mind in the event of an acute arrest out of the hospital, why can't a facility that isn't licensed to provide medical care allow their staff to attempt CPR, regardless of their training? EMS can provide these instructions, as indicated by the recorded 911 call. Wouldn't this just take a simple swipe of the pen to see that the facility assumes no responsibility for outcomes of CPR? If she were to have gone down in a grocery store, would the employees be allowed to perform CPR while the EMS is en route? It irritates me that people can't react to these situations without the fear of either being fired or sued. I understand the litigious nature of our society, but acting as a good samaritan should cover instances such as these where we don't know what happened (assuming she did not have a DNR).
I'm not saying the nurse did anything criminal. In fact I would be surprised if this police investigation leads to her being charged. I am aware that residents of the independent living facility sign a form that says no medical attention is directly on-site and that no CPR shall be attempted by staff. It's due to liability issues. If she was DNR, doesn't matter what the policy is. But if she was not DNR, this policy prevented a trained nurse from performing CPR while waiting for EMS to arrive. If she died en route to the ED, so be it. CPR would be the least you could do.
Does anyone think this story might end up being the impetus for changes either in good samaritan acts of giving CPR and/or the practicality of CPR in general and the increase need of DNR discussion?