Old lady dies in nursing home because Nurse refuses CPR, cites company policy.

[Probie]

We had a lady singing "Stayin' Alive" during CPR class. The best part is she failed her BLS exam.

Just busted out laughing while in class.

[davbrucas]

First of all..teh call was originally for shortness of breath/difficulty breathing. CPR is NOT the answer to that. You need EMS to give oxygen/breathing treatments, etc.

2nd of all, what if the lady was a DNR? No one knows the exact circumstances. If there was blood all over the place and I didnt have gloves, I wouldnt touch her. My safety before her safety.

3rd, the odds of her living from bystander CPR out of hospital is something like 1%. Most people dont do CPR for shit to begin with. If the lady had a pulse, CPR isnt going to help necessarily. If she was in vtach/vfib, she needs to be defibrilated.

There are just too many scenarios for anyone to make some dumbass assumptions. Most people dont even understand you dont shock asystole like in the movies. Just read the last bit...the daughter was ok with the outcome. People living there should be aware of what the facility will and will not do for them.

Agreed...

I go out of my way to not do CPR on a lady that age. It never works and all we do is break all of their ribs and cause unnecessary suffering.

[GrayStangGT]

If I was 87 and living in a nursing home, I think I would consider it a good run and be ready to go.

[line-em-up]

The other day in my EMT class we were doing a car crash simulation ( parent in worst condition, kids in the car were just bruised up and fine). The way it was set up is there were four ambulance crews, the next comes onto the scene when the one before them calls for support. I was in the fourth ambulance crew with two other people. We get the call to go outside and when we get there all the kids are loaded up onto stretchers and we are left with the parent. We start get the patient onto the backboard. Our instructor then calls out that the patient has stopped breathing but still has a pulse. The other two people just look at each other. I'm already opening the airway and grabbing a bvm while one starts doing compressions. My instructor immediately asks them why they are doing that. They can't answer and he explains that you don't do compressions on a patient with a decent heart rate (was 60bpm steady but weak). So we get the patient loaded up onto the striker and while waiting for the ambulance. While waiting ( I am still ventilating). The instructor says the patient has lost their heart beat. Once again my partners just look at each other. I put down the bvm and start compresions, then I tell them to get the aed ready and for the other one to ventilate. The person putting the aed on PUT THE PADS RIGHT ON TOP OF EACH OTHER BECAUSE THE PICTURES TOLD HIM TO. And the other one is trying to ventilate the patient while I am doing compressions at around 30 breaths per minute. Patient died, I got an A my partners failed. Long story short, some people just can't handle pressure. Some people just shouldn't be in EMS, same goes for the kid that puked during the birthing video.

/rant

Who were your classmates? The dumb and dumber boys?

[8mpg]

Who were your classmates? The dumb and dumber boys?

lol..everyone has to learn. Just think though, if they cant handle it in training, just wait to see what happens on a true living (well possibly dead) person

[davbrucas]

If I was 87 and living in a nursing home, I think I would consider it a good run and be ready to go.

Yup...but many times family members have a financial reason to "do everything" for the patient even though common sense...and medical professionals say different.

[bcoop]

lol..everyone has to learn. Just think though, if they cant handle it in training, just wait to see what happens on a true living (well possibly dead) person

Blows my mind the way people panic and stand around dumbfounded. And I'm not even dealing with life or death issues.

[Probie]

Blows my mind the way people panic and stand around dumbfounded. And I'm not even dealing with life or death issues.

Yep we have had good instruction but some people just don't handle stress well.

[crapstang]

I blame the person. It's a person's life. She let her die. Whatever her justifications, she had the expertise to save her life and she chose not to. Her calousness about it is even more damning, talking about how she was "stressed" because the 911 operator was yelling at her.

People will sue you after you save their life.

[VaderTT]

Breathing isn't as important. The main thing you need to know is do compressions at a rate of 100 per minute. If you choose to do breaths it's 2 breaths every 30 compressions.

I would highly recommend taking a refresher. It doesn't cost much and it doesn't take that long

Yeah, I guessed you were pretty up to date by the way you gave that prostitute mouth to mouth the other night.

[Forever_frost]

30:2 but you dont even need to do the breathing...its been a long while since you have done any CPR trainging. I dont think it has been 3:1 in the last 10+ years. .

I did my EIB test in 02 so just over 10years

[Leah]

...

FOX 4 News
Interesting....

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- The family of a California woman who died after a nurse at her independent living home refused to provide CPR says she chose to live in a facility without medical staff and wanted to pass away without life-prolonging intervention.

[SS Junk]

...

There it is. People just need to mind their business.