When an 87 year-old woman collapsed last week at a Bakersfield (Calif.) independent living facility, a nurse dialed 911 for help. A fire dispatcher urged the caller to begin CPR, but the nurse refused, saying it was against the company’s policy. With the clock ticking and EMS units enroute, dispatcher Tracey Halvorson begged someone—anyone–to start CPR to save the woman’s life, but the nurse said no one at the facility would do so. At one point Halvorson told the caller, “I understand if your boss is telling you you can’t do it. But…as a human being…you know…is there anybody that’s willing to help this lady and not let her die?” The caller responded, “Not at this time.” At another point in the 911 call Halvorson poignantly asked, “Is there a gardener? Any staff…anyone who doesn’t work for you? Anywhere? Can we flag someone down in the street and get them to help this lady? Can we flag a stranger down? I bet a stranger would help her.” Halvorson was on the call for over seven minutes until the fire department arrived. The woman was transported to the hospital, but did not survive. The facility defended its policy, and said residents are aware that staffers don’t provide medical assistance. Read more about the incident here, and listen to the 911 call here. Update: National Public Radio (NPR) devoted a story to the incident, with comment from dispatchers and an attorney.
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CBS News: Family: CA woman denied CPR wanted no intervention
SACRAMENTO, Calif. The company whose employee refused to administer CPR to a dying woman said Tuesday that the employee wrongly interpreted its policy. But the elderly woman’s family said she would not have wanted life-prolonging aid.
The family’s statement to the Associated Press absolving an elder care home of blame came less than 1-and-a-half hours before the company issued a statement saying the employee’s failure to heed a 911 dispatcher’s was the result of a misunderstanding of the company’s emergency medical practices.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57572724/family-ca-woman-denied-cpr-wanted-no-intervention/
In today’s litigious society I can understand the policies adopted by assisted living facilities that prohibit staff from initiating medical care of any kind, from applying a bandaid to performing CPR. HOWEVER, once the 911 system has been activated, you get more than just an ambulance. More and more regional EMS agencies are implementing EMD (emergency medical dispatcher) protocols in order to provide life-saving instructions for patient care *before* first responders arrive. Those EMDs are operating under the aegis of a medical director and they are trained to provide regular citizens with instructions on dealing with cardiac or respiratory arrest, choking, childbirth, etc. It is their job and it is the public’s expectation that those instructions be provided. It can reasonably be argued that families of elders who are in assisted living facilities, while not expecting staff to take it upon themselves to provide medical care, can and *should* expect staff to do what any bystander would do and comply with the directions of the EMD.
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