Wow first appearances that hospital screwed up big time. The ER is gonna take some heat over that. I get why they did resusitate (i.e. they caused the problem, and the death wouldn't have happened if they didn't screw up, plus the ER does codes quite frequently and may not have been fully aware of her status). Actually, they were up the creek the moment they gave her dilaudid. Don't resusitate and the family sues you for malpractice, do resusictate and you violate the DNR. Actually, I don't know how that patient got dilaudid without her knowing. I don't know any nurses who give dilaudid without telling their patients what they are giving.

This guy hits it one the head tho on why this happens "Admittedly, we don't have two sides of the story here. But as an Intensive Care physician (and one who works in a Catholic system), there is something about this article that I find very offensive. First, OF COURSE we follow 'do not resucitate' orders that patients have given to honor their wishes. Second, despite all of our good intentions, sometimes we don't have all the facts, or they are buried somewhere in an electronic medical record, or we get direct countermand of the DNR order by family when a patient has stated otherwise. Seconds count in a cardiac arrest, and during those times when confusion reigns, we ALWAYS err on the side of saving the patient. Now again... we don't really know what happened here, and the healthcare team surely could have screwed up. But it's hard to believe they acted with malice toward this lady - and fo saving her life, what does she do? SHE SUES THEM! Seems to me that this could be settled with a simple 'sorry' statement, not a freakin' lawsuit!!! I smell a rat..."

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