Should You Bother With a Do Not Resuscitate Order?

Many older people, do not worry as much about living very long as they do about dying in dignity. They often fear what should happen should they just get a stroke or get otherwise incapacitated in some way, they just keep driving on. Many people consider that a very undignified way in which to spend their last days. They wish there was something they could do to control the situation. Are they were able to tell doctors not to try to revive the. How do they do this? The answer, lies and what they call a DNR order - or a do not resuscitate.

When you try to draw up and have in readiness all the end-of-life documents that you need - a living trust, a living Will, and so on, a do-not-resuscitate order could really be considered a necessity.

What exactly does a do-not-resuscitate order contain? What does it say?

Basically, you will find on such documents, instructions for emergency doctors and other medical professionals on what they are allowed to do to you, should you find yourself in a near-death situation. If your heart stops beating, or should you stop breathing, whether or not you’re in hospital, a do-not-resuscitate order tells them what you d not want them to do. You can tell them not to use CPR or electric shocks or any kind of surgery. If you are slipping away, you can say in this document that you want them to let you slip away.

You have to understand that this only works when you're near death. Your heart needs to have stopped beating or something like it. The order does nothing when you're still breathing, however close to death you may be. You can't stop anyone from giving you emergency medical care when you are still barely clinging to life.

So what happens if no one knows about this document when you are in such a situation? What if this document is not even available? And even if they did find a copy in your pocket, they are going to be in the middle of a huge emergency trying to save your life. Are they really going to take the time to read it?

So basically, when you draw up a DNR, you do have to worry about how it's ever going to get used. How will anyone realize that it even exists?

Well, a hospital DNR is just a simple document that you write out. You don't need to have it authenticated by a lawyer or anything most of the time. In a very few states, you do need witnesses and a notary. If when you go to the hospital, you believe that you might find yourself in such a situation that you might need a DNR, you'll need to draw one of these up and hand it to the doctor.