The Pros And Cons Of DNR

Will, the physician in charge went against the patient’s wishes and gave a person who signed a DNR, CPR. This was against hospital rules because the patient signed a legal contract that said, “If I ever go into cardiac arrest, do not resuscitate me.” The doctor said that “she will thank [him]” at the end, but as discussed in class, DNR should all be followed because we have to give enough respect to the patient to grant them their dying wishes. The patient or the patient’s family could sue the doctor, anyone who helped resuscitate, or even the entire hospital because they broke a legal contact. The nurses who helped resuscitate the patient knew that the patient had a DNR, and that it was wrong to resuscitate her, but they did it anyway because a figure of authority asked them to do so. Will even said that he would take full responsibility for the entire thing. They were a prime example of Stanley Milgram’s experiment. They knew that what they were doing was wrong, but since the responsibility did not fall on their hands, they were obedient to the orders that they were given (Hoffman et at., 2015)

The first provision that they broke is Provision 3 which states that “The nurse promotes, advocates for, strive to protect the health, safety, and rights of the patient”. The nurses in the clip did not advocate properly for the rights of the patient. The patient signed a DNR, so they should have upheld that contract. The nurses also broke provision 8 which states that “The nurse collaborates with other health professionals and the public in promoting community, national and international efforts to meet health needs.” There was another doctor that was trying to stop Will from performing CPR, but the nurses followed what Will wanted to do and helped him perform CPR on a DNR