NHS Hospital Surgery: Herewith a Warning

 I write today with a warning, not just because I blame the Hospital for my wife’s untimely death, but because people should know what lies ahead of them in a Hospital, when surgery is planned for them.

Your Rights: Your Life

Do Not Attempt Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation

To any patient, or indeed patient’s family, whose entry into an NHS Trust-controlled Hospital is proposed for the purposes of surgery: of any sort of surgery under a general anaesthetic.

Demand to speak to the people who will be in charge, not of the surgery, but of the decision which will mean the difference between life, or death. Demand to speak to the people, the consultants, the specialists, the medical professionals who will study the medical files relating to the patient under scrutiny, and DEMAND  that you be informed if there is to be a decision on whether a Do Not Attempt Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation form be completed and set upon that Patient’s file. Because you have a legal right to be consulted, and a Legal right to argue if a decision should indeed be made, The Law demands that you be given that right. 

So, if you are old, or infirm, or if you are ‘Vulnerable’, or Frail, or if the Statistics may show that CPR would not or might not help, just remember that your voice counts, or rather should count, louder than a clutch of medical professionals who depend upon statistics in judging whether any patient lives or dies, and demand, a second or even third opinion, because if you find yourself, or a near and dear relative, approaching a proposal for surgery from an NHS Hospital, remember that your voice counts when it comes to decisions about DNACPR.