Elderly woman dies because nurse refused to give CPR

[uscitizen]

There is a difference from trying to prevent a confrontation/assault/death by violence and telling someone to attempt to save someone who is dying.

There is not!

You are not legally obligated to do as a 9/11 operator says.

Police are not even legally obligated to protect you. You can call 9/11 & they or the police could go take a nap while you are raped & you can't sue them.

Is too!

 

[uscitizen]

You keep throwing out Zimmerman. One problem though with your argument.

Zimmerman did stop following Trayvon. He's not guilty of not following the recommendation.

There is a difference from trying to prevent a confrontation/assault/death by violence and telling someone to attempt to save someone who is dying.

I was just merely pointing out the inaccuracy in his statement regarding Zimmerman.

In France and I believe a few other EU countries it's against the law not to assist or call for assistance for someone in distress.

yes I was not jumping on you and the nurse did call for assistance.

 

[MeBelle]

Here is the big fail:

"In the event of a health emergency at this independent living community, our practice is to immediately call emergency medical personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives.

An independent living community is apartment type housing for older people.
Generally, there is no nursing staff at an apartment building unless a nurse is privately hired by an occupant of the apartment building.

Did the person who called 911 identify herself as a nurse?

Unless california is the most backwards state there, is which it very well could be, nurses have a legal duty to rescue/render aid.

It's like with a lifeguard at a pool. If someone is drowning, the lifeguard is obligated to save them, they have a legal duty to do so. A parent as a legal duty to save their child, but a complete stranger typicall doesn't have a legal duty to save a stranger. But a nurse isn't a stranger.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Here is the big fail:

"In the event of a health emergency at this independent living community, our practice is to immediately call emergency medical personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives.

An independent living community is apartment type housing for older people.
Generally, there is no nursing staff at an apartment building unless a nurse is privately hired by an occupant of the apartment building.

Did the person who called 911 identify herself as a nurse?

Unless california is the most backwards state there, is which it very well could be, nurses have a legal duty to rescue/render aid.

It's like with a lifeguard at a pool. If someone is drowning, the lifeguard is obligated to save them, they have a legal duty to do so. A parent as a legal duty to save their child, but a complete stranger typicall doesn't have a legal duty to save a stranger. But a nurse isn't a stranger.

Yup, I heard her identify herself as a nurse on the 911 call aired on TV.

 

[JOSweetHeart]

Forgive me if this a stupid question, but does the Hippocratic Oath apply to nurses just like it does doctors?

God bless you always!!!

Holly

 

[hazlnut]

as 911 pleaded that they should.

Elderly Woman Dies After Nurse Refuses to Give Her CPR - Yahoo! News

welcome to the new america

"it's not my problem"

87 years old?? That's a full life.

What was her health like?

Did she have advanced dementia or was it moderate?

Was there a DNR order?

People go to nursing facilities to live out their years comfortably and die in peace, not be kept alive by artificial means.

 

[hazlnut]

Here is the big fail:

"In the event of a health emergency at this independent living community, our practice is to immediately call emergency medical personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives.

Do a google search and you'll find all sites list the facility as

Assisted Living, Independent Living, Alzheimer’s Memory Care

 

[hazlnut]

According to this version with the video clip

...the daughter of the woman believes everything was handled correctly. I'm betting there was a DNR order in place.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

welcome to the new america

"it's not my problem"

Why do you say this is new to this era? Its definitely not. You sound very young so you may not remember this case -

A Cry in the Night - The Kitty Genovese Murder ? Prologue ? Crime Library on truTV.com

... The Genovese murder was cast to fit that mold in an infamous broadsheet newspaper story published two weeks later.

It began, "For more than half an hour 38 respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens."

Read more: The killing of Kitty Genovese: 47 years later, still holds sway over New Yorkers - NY Daily News

What I want to know is how you will make this the fault of either President Obama or transsexuals.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Another case of an elderly woman's death -

How mom?s death changed my thinking about end-of-life care - Salon.com

 

[JOSweetHeart]

I'm betting there was a DNR order in place.

I have wondered about that too. To me, that is the only thing that would keep that nurse from being fired and sued.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

 

[April]

First off...just what type of medical facility (which it is) makes it a rule NOT to perform cpr on a patient?

Now, unless the woman had a do not resuscitate order signed by her and or signed and approved by her closest of kin (assuming her daughter) then, yes...everything was followed as requested by both patient and a family member and nurse.

Yet, the question STILL remains...what kind of facility makes it "protocol" to NOT perform cpr on any patient...I am sure that there are those patients and families that hope a nurse or nurses assistent would do so if they were not breathing for whatever reason.

What, is the heimlich maneuver against "protocol" too? Really?

 

[Luddly Neddite]

First off...just what type of medical facility (which it is) makes it a rule NOT perform cpr on a patient?

Now, unless the woman had a do not resuscitate order signed by her and or signed and approved by her closest of kin (assuming her daughter) then, yes...everything was followed as requested by both patient and a family member.

Yet, the question STILL remains...what kind of facility makes it "protocol" to NOT perform cpr on any patient...I am sure that there are those patients and families that hope a nurse or nurses assistent would do so if they were not breathing for whatever reason.

What, is the heimlich maneuver against "protocol" too? Really?

Start with hospice.

 

[April]

First off...just what type of medical facility (which it is) makes it a rule NOT perform cpr on a patient?

Now, unless the woman had a do not resuscitate order signed by her and or signed and approved by her closest of kin (assuming her daughter) then, yes...everything was followed as requested by both patient and a family member.

Yet, the question STILL remains...what kind of facility makes it "protocol" to NOT perform cpr on any patient...I am sure that there are those patients and families that hope a nurse or nurses assistent would do so if they were not breathing for whatever reason.

What, is the heimlich maneuver against "protocol" too? Really?

Start with hospice.

Well, yes...hospice is a palliative care facility. I understand that...she was dying. As are the others who are placed in hospice care. But, to do nothing when a patient is clearly gasping for air, or has stopped breathing is foreign to me.
I suppose I would have to place myself in their shoes to truly know what goes on in these places.

 

[Noomi]

I assume the nurse wasn't allowed to give CPR for health and safety reasons - the woman may have had an illness and the nurse wasn't allowed to risk her health, but a nursing home should have the necessary equipment to do CPR anyway.
Staying with the person and waiting for an ambulance isn't going to help them, its going to kill them.
Looks like the hospital needs to work out a new policy regarding CPR.

Luddly says it may have been a hospice she was in. The elderly go to a hospice to die, don't they? So why bring her back when bringing her back could leave her a vegetable with no quality of life at all?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

The only thing I can think of right now and I may be wrong.
The facility is protecting themselves against a lawsuit.
But I believe no jury will find against someone trying to administer a life saving procedure.
I think it's called the good Samaritan law.

But I'm sure there are a few John Edwards or Gloria Alred types that would sue and force the facility and the employee to spend thousands of dollars in attorney fees.

Good Samaritan laws protect untrained people from liability if they harm someone with the intent of helping, they do not protect medical staff from the same thing.

 

[April]

I assume the nurse wasn't allowed to give CPR for health and safety reasons - the woman may have had an illness and the nurse wasn't allowed to risk her health, but a nursing home should have the necessary equipment to do CPR anyway.
Staying with the person and waiting for an ambulance isn't going to help them, its going to kill them.
Looks like the hospital needs to work out a new policy regarding CPR.

Luddly says it may have been a hospice she was in. The elderly go to a hospice to die, don't they? So why bring her back when bringing her back could leave her a vegetable with no quality of life at all?

True.

 

[Esmeralda]

Unless California is the most backwards state there, is which it very well could be, nurses have a legal duty to rescue/render aid.

It's like with a lifeguard at a pool. If someone is drowning, the lifeguard is obligated to save them, they have a legal duty to do so. A parent as a legal duty to save their child, but a complete stranger typical doesn't have a legal duty to save a stranger. But a nurse isn't a stranger.

I agree. The person in question was possibly a nurse’s aid, not an RN or LPN. She/he should have called someone else to do it, if possible. Personally, I cannot see standing by and letting someone die because you are afraid of losing your job.

But, I agree with others, the facility should not have such a rule. How can a facility which cares for people not render life saving CPR when necessary? Why would anyone send a relative there or agree to live there? Maybe they didn't read the small print.

This reminds me of a story a couple of years ago about a house burning down and the fire department standing by and watching it because the community's fire department was financed by insurance premiums and the homeowner had not paid his premium. Stupidity and madness for people to stand by and not help, when they can, when they have the training and/or equipment to do so, when we would all think their profession mandates that they do--yet they stand by and do nothing because of some bureaucratic rule.

 

[Gracie]

I have not read the whole thread, but maybe the woman that died didn't want CPR. I know I have a DNR, myself.

If I am at the pearly gates and looking down at my body and some schmuck yanks me from my white light just as I step thru those gates, I am going to be totally pissed off.

 

[Noomi]

I have not read the whole thread, but maybe the woman that died didn't want CPR. I know I have a DNR, myself.

If I am at the pearly gates and looking down at my body and some schmuck yanks me from my white light just as I step thru those gates, I am going to be totally pissed off.

I want to be saved only if I will continue to lead a normal life. If I become a vegie because of being starved of oxygen, someone had damned well better hold a pillow over my face and put me outta my misery.