Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London
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J R Coll Physicians Lond · Mar 1996
When can elderly patients be excluded from discussing resuscitation?
Case notes of elderly medical patients were surveyed to determine when "do not resuscitate' (DNR) decisions could legitimately be made without consulting them. Patients were thought to be suitable for exclusion from decisions if morbidity scores indicated that they were unlikely to survive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or if they were mentally incompetent. ⋯ Of those with DNR decisions, 59% were predicted not to survive and a further 24% were incompetent. Discussing resuscitation would have been appropriate with 17% of those with DNR decisions.