Peter Clarke was not treated by doctors after going into cardiac arrest as a nurse had spotted the form in his files and, even though it was blank and had not been filled in, told other ward staff he should not be revived.Try that with any other government agency, shall we? Submit a blank tax assessment form and hope the Revenue just pass it as 'nothing to declare'?
Yeah, I'm sure that'd work...
Coroner Dr Robert Hunter recorded a verdict of natural death and said: ‘The circumstances have highlighted faults. If anything has come out of this, it’s improved the policy for other patients.’Oh, another way to say 'lessons will be learned'...
A spokeswoman for the Trust said: ‘The patient had severe coronary artery disease failure, and other complications, and it is unlikely the resuscitation would have made any difference.’Well, we'll never know, will we?
It might have made a difference to his family, though, knowing that instead of glancing at a blank form and not bothering to disturb their morning coffee, the medics actually did their best for their
Is it possible that they let him die entirely by accident and then covered their traces by tucking the form into his file?
ReplyDeleteI assume they put some sort of 'Patient pack' together to save time containing all relevant forms, so they don't have to be hunted for,
ReplyDeleteThe alarming thing is that a blank copy of a DNR form, can be used as consent, just because it was in the file.
Maybe I can extend it to my job and sign people off Job Seekers just by putting a blank signing off form in their file.
simples
Bureaucracies always insist forms are completed correctly when the receipt of the form means work for the bureaucracy.
ReplyDeleteWhen the form means the absence of work for the bureaucracy, they are apt to be more forgiving.