No Liability For Resuscitation Hello everyone! - I cannot put into words how disgusted I am by this latest piece of news coming from an independent senior living facility somewhere in California.
An 87- year old resident fainted, so one of the staff dialed 9-1-1 and asked for medical attendance. Nothing unusual about that scenario as that case was just nothing out of the ordinary. Until ..., until the 9-1-1- dispatcher suggested that CPR needed to be done immediately, but the caller explained that even though being a nurse, she was not allowed to do so herself. The woman on the other end got audibly quite frantic and literally went into a begging mode. What she wanted that nurse to do was a simple act of compassion and empathy, nothing else. Go and get someone else to apply CPR ASAP was the emotional plead, and guess what happened next. Exactly, nothing, zippo! That nurse just kept repeating herself in an awkwardly dull and un-lively fashion claiming that she couldn't help it, but there was absolutely nobody non- staff around. You know what this waste of six minutes did?
Right, it ultimately led to the death of that old woman because by the time the EMS arrived on site, six precious minutes had been uselessly wasted, and so the patient was pronounced dead in hospital. Unlike ordinary senior homes, CPR cannot be performed in assisted or independent senior facilities by staff members themselves. What a retarded policy is that again?! - I've heard that they just refuse to be liable for any medical treatment by the hands of employees in such place. Why is it, I wonder that it's apparently more important not to risk any legal consequences rather than to risk losing a life?
Is it because places like these have been sued already and just want to pass the bucket as not to have to face a similar ordeal? Seriously, what is more important, to save a life even that of someone that age or to strictly stick to dumb legally binding rules? My hat is off to that 9-1-1- operator! She could have cared less about all those stupidly perverted legalities but was after what should be inherent in all of us - Compassion! Don't give me that BS that nobody could be found, no gardener, visitor, by- stander, etc. After all, why would anyone become a nurse, who quite equally to a doctor is anticipated to help anyone in physical distress, resuscitate if necessary and at least try to keep them alive, and then work in a place that legally forces them to basically do exactly the opposite? Sorry, if I'm expressing disdain and disgust, but I just don't get this kind of mentality in the least. I could tell from the despair in that woman's voice as she was urging the nurse to finally become active how much she would have wished to be there at that moment, so she could have done the job herself. The same here by the way, hopefully just as much as my readers would have because again this is a very normal human reaction not even worth mentioning. It saddens me tremendously how detached we have become from performing unconditional humanitarian acts of compassion due to restrictive and counter- active laws and regulations. I just hope for all those who fought for those inhibiting laws and passed them that a day like last Friday will never become reality when a nurse or doctor will inertly watch them perish knowing they could save their lives.
An 87- year old resident fainted, so one of the staff dialed 9-1-1 and asked for medical attendance. Nothing unusual about that scenario as that case was just nothing out of the ordinary. Until ..., until the 9-1-1- dispatcher suggested that CPR needed to be done immediately, but the caller explained that even though being a nurse, she was not allowed to do so herself. The woman on the other end got audibly quite frantic and literally went into a begging mode. What she wanted that nurse to do was a simple act of compassion and empathy, nothing else. Go and get someone else to apply CPR ASAP was the emotional plead, and guess what happened next. Exactly, nothing, zippo! That nurse just kept repeating herself in an awkwardly dull and un-lively fashion claiming that she couldn't help it, but there was absolutely nobody non- staff around. You know what this waste of six minutes did?
Right, it ultimately led to the death of that old woman because by the time the EMS arrived on site, six precious minutes had been uselessly wasted, and so the patient was pronounced dead in hospital. Unlike ordinary senior homes, CPR cannot be performed in assisted or independent senior facilities by staff members themselves. What a retarded policy is that again?! - I've heard that they just refuse to be liable for any medical treatment by the hands of employees in such place. Why is it, I wonder that it's apparently more important not to risk any legal consequences rather than to risk losing a life?
Is it because places like these have been sued already and just want to pass the bucket as not to have to face a similar ordeal? Seriously, what is more important, to save a life even that of someone that age or to strictly stick to dumb legally binding rules? My hat is off to that 9-1-1- operator! She could have cared less about all those stupidly perverted legalities but was after what should be inherent in all of us - Compassion! Don't give me that BS that nobody could be found, no gardener, visitor, by- stander, etc. After all, why would anyone become a nurse, who quite equally to a doctor is anticipated to help anyone in physical distress, resuscitate if necessary and at least try to keep them alive, and then work in a place that legally forces them to basically do exactly the opposite? Sorry, if I'm expressing disdain and disgust, but I just don't get this kind of mentality in the least. I could tell from the despair in that woman's voice as she was urging the nurse to finally become active how much she would have wished to be there at that moment, so she could have done the job herself. The same here by the way, hopefully just as much as my readers would have because again this is a very normal human reaction not even worth mentioning. It saddens me tremendously how detached we have become from performing unconditional humanitarian acts of compassion due to restrictive and counter- active laws and regulations. I just hope for all those who fought for those inhibiting laws and passed them that a day like last Friday will never become reality when a nurse or doctor will inertly watch them perish knowing they could save their lives.
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