BB FANS

Nurses were thrust into a medical ethics row last night after being given the power to take life and death decisions over seriously ill patients.

Telegraph

'For the first time in the history of the profession, senior clinical nurses have been given the authority to decide whether or not patients should be resuscitated.'



Dr Peter Saunders, general secretary of the Christian Medical Fellowship, of which more than 4,500 doctors are members, said of the guidance: "Nurses should not be making such a decision.
"It is always going to be a difficult call to decide whether someone should live or die. The decision should always be taken after very careful consideration by senior doctors.
"There is absolutely no way this can be delegated to nursing staff. It's unfair on them to make such a call — they have neither the training or the experience."



I think it's ok that people makes 'as their last nursing will' when they are having still their full mental and physical health a written testament not to be resuscitated if they are old enough or incurable ill to choose passive eutanasia that is otherwise decision of a doctor, not a decision of a nurse.

I had a discussion about this with my mother today who has been nursing for 40 years. She is highly qualified and experienced and at her level feels fully able to make that call. It is wrong to belittle the value of nurses when for many it has been a true vocation. My mum saw her first post mortem at just 18. She has nursed and cared for thousands and thousands of people in her career specialising in children and has picked up mistakes made by doctors and others in the medical profession. Very few people who suffer heart failure actually recover anyway. I think the change was to allow 'certain' nurses the decision not all nurses and quite frankly I would choose an experienced expert nurse over a doctor fresh out of med school anyday.

my take on this whole thing is that these kind of decisions would rarely have to be taken 'out of the blue', rather as part of an ongoing care scenario.

I remember when my mum was in hospital just before she died, she had a huge cardiac arrest which she was resuscitated (sp) from. however, the doctor in charge asked us before we left the hospital that night did we want them to do it again should the need arise? (v difficult question for us to answer) we asked him (and the charge nurse) their opinion, and they were honest about it - it might work, it might not, and even if it did, the trauma mum would have been in could have resulted in serious internal injuries etc etc which she might not recover from. so we decided to say no and let nature (God?) take its course.

the point I am making is this - even thought nurses can 'decide' - we have to trust that they will be in a position to know the situation and can weigh it all up before making that decision.

I was of the opinion that nurses have in some ways been involved in these sort of decisions for a long time. I've definitely been told by nurse that when a terminally ill patient is in their care, they have had to decide whether or not to contact the doctor on call, or not. Sometimes they wouldn't call the doctor, as it would be cruel to the patient to prolong their life any further.

The doctor would of course be required to certify the death.

Also, a nurse may have had years and years of experience, and be working with a very new junior doctor who's not slept for over 50 hours - in some of those situations, I'd think the nurse has had a great deal of responsibility on them - if not officially, then in reality.

Brilliantly said GG.

I think it's important to be said that hospital life is nothing like it is portrayed on tv ie Casualty and Holby City etc. I remember sitting in A&E with my son when he had meningitis and doctors came and went but on the whole it was a lot of sitting and waiting. I always remember my dad looking down an empty corridoor and saying ''I don't know how they drum up the drama in casualty try filming an hour of this'' It's fair to say it was 4 hours sitting waiting for test results and hospital beds and about 10 mintues drama while the doctor told me he had meningitis and needed a lumbar puncture and me saying stupid remarks like ''does he have to stay in hospital tonight then''

I digress. What I'm trying to say it really isn't like it is on tv. The reality is very much harder!

You mean it isn't like ER? So no George Clooney or Dr Luca to come and cure me and also fix all my life problems? Bugger that, am darned if I am visitng a hospital again then.