DNRs

Recently on one of the newsmagazines on tv there was a segment about a DNR Order for a older gentleman to which his daughter, a nurse, wasn't aware.  She was with her father when he was in distress and was prevented from assisting him by staff of Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto.  The staff just stood there watching the gentleman die while physically holding back the daughter because of these three letters: DNR..  How terrorizing that I still have recall of this..

I recently had a scenario of  how DNRs are obtained.  I am still reeling over it.  If staff suspects that a family member will oppose a DNR hospital staff will just go behind the family member's back and get it anyways.  It isn't even in writing.  Just a notation on a patient's chart: DNR.  There is a trio of doctors at VGH whose mandate is to convince patients to agree or even if a patient doesn't know what he is agreeing to but agrees that he understands it is on his chart forever never to be questioned again.

Randy had a severe traumatic brain injury and as time goes on he is susceptible to suggestions i.e. undue influence.  However, one thing that Randy is consistent is when you ask him about Dr. Dunn his assigned doctor because you can't have a family doctor when you are in care is his consistent "the finger."

Why is this an ongoing issue (rush) not only at VGH but also at GPC.

Randy is only 54 years old; unfortunately he is a quad but his quality of life is good, he has no diseases nor is he in pain.  The traumatic brain injury left him with a spinal cord injury. He suffers from depression but who won't.

Randy is in a system that has a halo of goodness around it. It promises to do no harm.

At the last open board meeting Kip Woodward said something had to be done to prevent extraction of DNRs while patients are in Emergency but he hasn't done anything so far.

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