Medical
Personnel Should Actively Promote the Concept of Terminal DNR
Rong-Chi
Chen1,2,3
Department of
Neurology1, En Chu Kong Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan; Buddhist LotusHospice Care
Foundation2; Taiwan Joint Commission on Hospital Accreditation3
Address
reprint requests and correspondence to: Dr. Rong-Chi Chen, Department of
Neurology, En Chu Kong Hospital, 399, Fuhsing Road, Sanhsia, Taipei, Taiwan
Up until
recent times, most people died at home, peacefully and in the company of
family. Due to the advancement of medical science, however, many people now
expire at a hospital. Since the invention of cardiopul-monary resuscitation
(CPR) in the 1960s and the subsequent relentless advance of medical technology,
our life span may have increased, however, it appears reasonable to suggest
that the quality of life at its end may not have improved. Instead, healthcare
providers, in particular physicians, now fight for lives against all the odds,
promoting the false belief in the omnipotence of medical care and the triumph
of man over nature. As a result of this "heroic fight" by physicians,
more and more people now die a painful death in the hospital. Physicians often
cannot accept the defeat of losing a patient, while relatives are unwilling to
let their family member go or believe they are disloyal or unloving if they do
not let the physician attempt a last CPR.
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