Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire DNR order question.

My Dad has pretty much quit eating and it'll only be a matter of time before he ends up in the hospital. He has a DNR order - living will and has made it clear that he's ready to go whenever it's time. My question is do we let the hospital hook him up and feed him through IV or just starve him to death?

DNRs are for resuscitative care, not routine care. Most likely he will be fed one way or another.

Have you thought about Hospice care? They can be much easier to deal with than a Hospital when it comes to the end of life.

DNR's don't mean squat. My mom had one and went to see her and they had her on a ventilator. I blew up on the staff on why they are going against her wishes.

Look into hospice. DNR/DNI doesn't mean "don't treat" and only really applies to code situations

People with or without a DNR can choose not to eat.

Did they know she had one? Did she agree to be intubated? If the answers are yes and no respectively, you could sue them and win. Usually the "we didn't know" card is played though. Followed closely by the old "he/she changed their mind and asked us to do it"

I have treated people who supposedly had DNRs too. Their families were usually disorganized and couldn't provide a copy to the hospital. They swore up and down the patient had one! Three sides to every story..

In my mom's case her DNR was on file and the staff knew it. No one changed there mind to have her on it. Dad got the whole family up there and we told them to shut it off.

Did it buy extra time so the whole family was there? Sure but that's not what anybody wanted.

I asked my dad if he gave permission and he told me no.

Yeah, I've done CPR on many a DNR patient before we had it on file. In a defensive medicine world, we're erring on the side of running the code not letting them die if we don't have the living will/code status on file.

If your dad wants to go.

Don’t go to the hospital.

They need to generate revenue.

They won’t let him go……..

Cheaply.

Best of luck.

That's complete BS. I hope you reamed them a new one. (unless she was DNR, but not DNI)

I forget the names of the meds that Hospice typically issues to caregivers (there were three... the same three... issued to me for both my mom and dad).

Bottomline... at this point the meds work together to mitigate the pain of various organ failures (lack of eating, lack of hydration, renal shutdown etc.) Days and/or weeks with less or no pain is a benefit.

The day I started administering these meds was extremely difficult because there is no undoing the inevitable result.

Good luck Sir...

I'm pretty old, so I understand what he's going through. Is he still capable of understanding what's going on? IF so, then why not ask him? He's said that he's ready to go when the time comes. I suggest that you honor his wishes.

Does he have a advance directive?

The OP is pretty clear.

I've recently been through this with my father. He passed on Feb 3rd. You need to have a copy of the DNR with you, not the original as they may want to keep it. Because of so many damned lawyers, hospitals are too afraid that they're going to be sued by the family.

The copy of the legal document shows them his desire. In addition, if he's cognizant and able to speak with them they will usually honor his desires.

As others have stated, being able to stay at home and have hospice there is a huge benefit for you and your family. They'll know everything that needs to be done in your area.

Sorry that you're having to deal with this.

Jeff

She had the DNR on file but not sure of a DNI. She was a paraplegic and when healthy her lungs were shidt compared to healthy person. She got covid ( guess 3 shots weren't enough) and pneumonia. Doc even said that they couldn't do anything and it was just a matter of time.

Don't know who made the call

My dad pretty much in sheetz parking lot took ems 10 minutes to get a pulse.I got to the hospital and informed them of his DNR.Docs wanted to do scans and bull schit telling me he was brain dead and he’d be a vegetable.After multiple rounds with them a kind nurse told me of a higher power within the hospital to channel.I signed a paper and the doc left pissed.9 days of hell but he died peaceful good luck.

I have observed that hospitals and physicians have a mission to keep patients alive and will do so for as long as it is possible. Hospice care is palliative, to maximize quality of life and manage pain for people who are expected to pass away in the near term.

I watched my Mother pass peacefully after a month in hospice. I watched my MIL pass hard in and out of hospitals and nursing homes despite having a DNR because my BIL had medical power of attorney for her and would not let the hospital turn off her implanted defibrillator. Even with a DNR, the person with medical power of attorney can make choices that may not be what the patient would have wanted if the patient was able to make them for himself/herself. My point being that when you grant someone POA, you'd better be sure that they will follow your desires and not their own. My MIL suffered at least a dozen heart attacks during her final days and rather than die from them, the device brought her back to life each time. She was unable to communicate during that time due at least in part to a series of strokes.

My MIL should have known that my BIL would do whatever he thought was best, but she was old school and believed that the eldest male child should have the authority to speak for her when she was unable to do so. While she was alive and of sound mind, whenever she was hospitalized, she would give me POA for her business affairs because she didn't trust my BIL not to do something stupid. It seemed odd that she didn't trust him to manage her business, but did trust him to fulfill her last wishes.