A Nurse Refuses to Give CPR to a Dying Woman

[Dave]

This story is simply appalling to me. What has the world come too when someone can't give aid to someone in distress? The facility prohibited the nurse from helping.. that in itself is insane. Why put a person in a care facility if they won't receive all care when needed? Listening to the 911 operator plead with the nurse to at least try and find someone, anyone to help is chilling. It just boggles my mind when asked by the operator if they were just going to let the woman die, the nurse responded "that's why we called 911".... what a cold hearted response! Listening to some of the callers on a radio show tonight on my drive home, one guy responded that 'hey, she was 87, she lived a long happy life'.. got to wonder if he would of felt the same way if it was his mother or grandmother. Or maybe he is in a situation where he needs emergency treatment and someone says 'well you lived a good long life, we'll just wait for the paramedics to arrive, however long that takes'... I'd swear these type of people have no soul.

An elderly California woman died after a nurse at her senior living facility refused to perform CPR, despite a 911 dispatcher begging her over the phone.

Instead, the nurse said the facility’s policy prohibited her from stepping in to save the woman’s life.

“It’s a human being,” dispatcher Tracey Halvorson said in 911 audio released by the Bakersfield, Calif. fire department, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Is there anybody that’s willing to help this lady and not let her die?”

“Not at this time,” came the answer.

That was the scene Tuesday at Glenwood Gardens after 87-year-old Lorraine Bayless collapsed, KGET-TV reported. She was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

But for more than seven minutes, the 911 dispatcher had tried to get someone to perform CPR until help arrived. With every passing moment, hope for Bayless’ survival grew slimmer.

“Anybody there can do CPR. Give them the phone please. I understand if your facility is not willing to do that. Give the phone to that passerby,” Halvorson said.  ”This woman is not breathing enough. She is going to die if we don’t get this started.”

The dispatcher even asked if there was a “gardener…can we flag someone down in the street and get them to help this lady?”

When asked if the nurse was just going to let the woman die, she replied, “That’s why we called 911.”

Glenwood Gardens released a statement to KGET saying protocol for employees is to call 911 for patient emergencies, not to perform CPR themselves.

“In the event of a health emergency at this independent living community our practice is to immediately call emergency medical personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives. That is the protocol we followed,” the statement said.

The facility promised to conduct a “thorough internal review” of the incident.

KGET confirmed the Bayless did not have a do-not-resuscitate order. Nevertheless, her daughter — who is a nurse herself — told the station she was satisfied with her mother’s care at the facility.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/03/hear-the-stunning-911-ca...

[Dave]

Click the link to the story to hear the 911 call!

[Willy]

Thanks for posting this topic. I didn't hear about it before so I found some videos to help explain what happened.

[masonco]

Usually first responders arrive immediately to these places. If family members are aware of this policy and agree with it, then the employee is right.

The next question I have is did the even occur in front of someone or did they walk in to see the person not breathing. Many do not know this, but often CPR is done to keep a person alive until they can get to the hospital where they "do not make it". IF the person is extremely frail the damages can be worse and there is a very slim chance they will survive after CPR.

However, rest easy. At Tendercare there is a portable defib and nurses are trained in CPR. But on a personal note after having recently seen them go to extremes to save my Husband and the suffering he went through during his last weeks on earth, I now have 2nd thoughts about it.

[XLFD]

Some of these patients have legal DNR- Do Not Resuscitate orders that preclude the use of CPR for such purposes.  It is not clear whether this patient had such orders, and I didn't catch whether she may have been choked on something, but it sounds like the senior living facility had a strict policy about not allowing their employees to help out, at least according to the nurse. 

I hope they review any such policies because of this, since it seems an inhumane protocol to have for non-DNR patients.  I can vouch for you Masonco on that personal level, that it's rough seeing someone you love going through defribs and CPR if it's not totally successful.