Wow,
Sometimes cruising the news aggregators you come up something shocking.
Apparently the policy for emergencies at Glenwood Gardens, a senior living facility in Bakersfield, CA, is to let its patients work out that dying thing on their own. Despite the pleas of the 911 dispatcher the nurse on the line refused to start CPR and the patient eventually died.
Incredible!
BLS is taught to everyone in the medical field..... even the janitors. There is IMHO no excuse for this.


[latimesblogs.latimes.com]

John

edit: To be fair it's possible the patient was a DNR. Even so a non-interventionist nursing home/living center or whatever you call it is not a hospice.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2013 11:48AM by dad@home.

Well, if you and your family knew the policy and agreed to it when moving in I don't see the problem. The woman might have needed breathing assistance, not CPR.

The deceased woman's daughter seems fine with the response.

My mother, at age 79, had Alzheimer's Disease. My step-father let her die by not feeding her enough and, primarily, by not giving her enough to drink. My siblings and I accepted that.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2013 12:14PM by Speedy.

As terrible as it sounds, there may have been other circumstances involved. DNR is not just for hospice care, BTW.

I have an Aunt in one. I haven't been back to see her in a few months. It's basically a place to go and die.
They keep them alive as long as possible and milk Medicare. It's a very depressing place to visit. Luckily
we were able care of both of my parents at their home in their last days. Hospice came in every so many days
a week for each and the passed 3 weeks apart. We all had to miss a fair amount of time at work but it was
their wish to not be put into a home. Mom died of COPD and Dad Pancreatic cancer.

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Grateful11

My mother and my mother-in-law both lived in assisted living facilities that were wonderful. They were about celebrating what was still possible for the residents. My mom's place also had independent living, and I think that's a good combo. They were quite happy there.

CPR on a 90 year old woman can cause painful injuries. The medication to relivieve that pain can make the person nearly comatose. That means an IV for fluids, a tube down the nose for food, a catheter and diaper. Is that how you want to spend your last months/weeks of life?

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Quote
Filliam H. Muffman
That means an IV for fluids, a tube down the nose for food, a catheter and diaper. Is that how you want to spend your last months/weeks of life?

.

Only if I can also get hookers and booze.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

[Updated, 4:30 p.m.: KGET-TV said the patient did not have a do-not-resucitate order.]

In my experience, "assisted living communities" are pretty nice places with professional staff, decent food and trained personnel available at all times to perform CPR. Most of the hotel or apartment-style communities that I have seen now have defibrillators set up in every corridor like fire extinguishers and train resident-volunteers on how to use them.

What you've got there is a "nursing home." A place where they put people to die.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2013 12:53PM by Chakravartin.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2013 01:15PM by Dennis S.

Something is very wrong here with this story.
In Ohio, all medical personnel are required to maintain CPR certification... even nurse's aides.
And carry one of those CPR mouthpieces with them (it's essentially a one way valve).

My wife worked in assisted living for 7 years. She's done CPR on residents who did not have DNR orders. And yes, she's broken sternums and ribs doing it. One out of 10 times it actually worked, but you do what you have to do. Typically only those residents on Hospice had DNR orders (It's a hospice requirement).

I also don't understand why anyone would do CPR on someone who is 'barely breathing'. CPR is ONLY for "No Pulse" situations. You can do a Heimlich for blocked airway during meals... it often injures the elderly. I've used it twice in my life (on my brother) and it works quite well.

The article never says it is an Assisted Living Center. They call it a "senior living facility" which probably means nursing home. I have an aunt and uncle in an Assisted Living Center and it is like a posh condo. Same for my friend's mother's situation where she is living.

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This wouldn't raise an eyebrow in most of the developed world. Americans have an unusually high fear of death.

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My mother is 92 (93 in 2 weeks) and in extremely good health. She lives alone in a condo, still drives and travels frequently. She has no interest in a ALF ("they are for old folks") and I can't even get her to consider a personal alarm even if I pay for it.

All that said, when her time comes I would much rather she die (that is what it is, not passing, etc) in a single event and not go down hill over a period of time. My sister and I call her but it may be days before we catch her at home and she never returns calls. My guess is she will die at home and alone, but that is how she seems to want it.

Me? I agree with mom

(she at least wants a funeral, my wishes involve a couple cinder blocks, some rope and deep water.)

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Other sources had her as a resident of the assisted living section (she was not in the skilled nursing section).

Agree with it or not that facility does not provide medical care to their assisted living residents.

I wouldn't be eager to have CPR performed on my 80-something loved one, knowing it would make no difference.

A friend of mine once remarked about his mother, "some people just live too long". Loved his mother but she wasn't comfortable anymore.

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