D.N.A.C.P.R.

The acronym above stands for Do Not Attempt Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation

It is indeed strange how circumstances so remote as to virtually be impossible come together in life. I commenced watching ‘Everwood’ on Netflix, and posted upon X (twitter) about being gripped by a gentle drama. And then, the one thing which had impacted my life so appallingly, came on in that drama without any warning whatsoever.

If I can explain. Readers may remember that I wrote of my wife’s hospital treatment and death. My wife of some 53 years of marriage was stricken with schizophrenia many years ago. You don’t “get over” a mental illness, you treat it with medication, with love and with understanding. I had to have my beloved committed to a Mental Hospital in Cape Town, and then had to figure out how to look after two very small boys and a six-month old daughter. It wasn’t easy, but we got through it together, and after a time in hospital, my love was returned to my care.

For many years, she was almost back to normal, but about fifteen years ago, she commenced a slow decline, ending up Bed- or Wheelchair-bound, and quite frail. She fell from her bedside, fracturing her hip, and, after a stay in the hospital’s A&E for X-rays and diagnosis, I was told that she had fractured her hip and needed an operation the next day. I was contacted by the hospital, and told that my wife had come through the operation successfully, had a drink of tea, and was resting. I was called in the evening, and bluntly told that my wife had suffered a heart attack, and was dead.

I was literally grief-stricken at the loss of my Jacqueline, but I ploughed on with all the digital ephemera which surrounds a family death, concentrating to clear everything away, inclusive of arranging a cremation, and after about four-odd weeks, I was almost back to normal. The Coroner had to be involved, because Jacqueline’s death was unexpected, and, during the conversation with the Coroner’s Clerk, I was offered a full copy of the hospital’s documentation concerning my wife’s treatment and death.

It was then I discovered that a Committee of Vultures, masquerading as Hospital Consultants, had reviewed my wife’s file, physical and mental states, and decided that, in the event of a heart attack, she was to be denied resuscitation: and so a DNACPR note was laid upon my wife’s bedside notes. To say that I, with all that grief suddenly resurrected, was almost beside myself with anger is, perhaps, an understatement. I tried all avenues to get some form of contrition from the hospital; but after many weeks, I had to be satisfied with making a video on the hospital’s channel, and letters of condolence which were VERY carefully worded. 

So, as I stated at the beginning of this polemic, I was binge-watching Everwood on Netflix, and, in this episode; the storyline was discussing how cast members were greeting the news of the sudden death of a young man who had been revived after a catastrophic accident. The doctor/surgeon who had treated the young man was reviewing his own notes, and suddenly, a page appeared which was a signed DNACPR document: but signed by the patient himself. He stated that he did not wish to live the half-life which he had inherited after the accident.

I accept that just about all television is scripted, laced with propaganda of one sort or another, and carefully directed, including most news channels, but I do believe that the wider public should be aware that, certainly in GB&NI, those Consultants who are supposed to carefully review the files of all patients who are to undergo surgical intervention have, indeed, the very power of LIFE AND/OR DEATH within that carefully worded documentation. The patient, and any family members, are not normally advised when the DNAR is signed.