The New Zealand press is reporting a case in which a family alleges that a doctor at Palmerston North placed a do-not-resuscitate order on the file of 85-year-old Juanita Wallace without discussing it with either her or her family.
Wallace, a Woodlands Rest Home resident, was taken by ambulance to the hospital for the second time in as many days last Friday with a serious chest infection. Her son, Tim, said that, whenever the subject had been discussed, his mother had refused a not-for-resuscitation order, the last time being a couple of months ago when the rest home updated records. Mr. Wallace was shocked when he visited his mother to find the yellow do-not-resuscitate order had been filled out by a doctor. Otago University law professor Peter Skegg said that, "it is usually good practice to consult with others before entering a do-not-resuscitate order on the patient's chart." Mr. Wallace said that, in the ward, his mother had been given morphine and no fluids, was largely unconscious, and her oxygen supply was not turned on. "I feel they are playing God and making arbitrary decisions about who should be treated." Mr Wallace said he turned his mother's oxygen back on, insisted the morphine be cut back and that she be given fluids. The next day, she was sitting up in an armchair and talkative. The investigation is continuing.
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