Withholding CPR in the Prehospital Setting
- 1 March 1990
- journal article
- controversy
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Prehospital and Disaster Medicine
- Vol. 5 (1) , 45-46
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s1049023x00026509
Abstract
The expansion of hospices and recognition of living wills have made it necessary for emergency care providers to re-evaluate the appropriateness of universal application of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in the field. The prehospital care community is coming to realize that CPR is beneficial only in certain specific situations. Some believe that when CPR is not likely to be beneficial, it should be withheld. Withholding CPR seems to be a simple matter of law and science, but a number of factors complicate the issue, especially in the prehospital setting: What are the definitive signs of irreversible, sudden death? When is the application of CPR futile? What are the responsibilities of the prehospital emergency care provider who announce someone dead? What is the lay public's perception of stopping or withholding CPR? Withholding CPR in this environment is a complicated social and emotional issue as well as a scientific and legal one.Keywords
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