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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 19368
[Pagan]
Date Posted:
2/11/2008
8:26:13 am EST
Wvox Stats
Views: 5,987
RSS: 17,787
Comments: 7
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Message In Ink
Author: Dale Rodebaugh Source: Durango Herald (CO)
Title: MESSAGE IN INK
Rachelle Whitley's e-mail address - risenphnx@aol.com - hints that she's had a second chance at life.
In a way she has. But the motorcycle accident almost three years ago that left her with chronic pain is enough, Whitley said.
"This isn't a whim," Whitley, 40, said Wednesday as Dave Stem at Monkey Wrench Tattoo prepared to adorn the area above her left breast with a message for emergency personnel: Do Not Resuscitate.
The black lettering brackets a medical-alert symbol in red.
"I'm Wiccan. Things happen for a reason," Whitley said. "If it's my time to go, I don't want to be brought back."
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Community Thoughts: There are 7 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Our Time Is Marked DNR Or No DNR | Feb 14th. at 1:25:42 pm EST
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Empathic Eagle (Kannapolis, North Carolina) - Email Me
"I'm Wiccan. Things happen for a reason," Whitley said. "If it's my time to go, I don't want to be brought back."
While in England with the Air Force I was involved in a horrible head on collision. It killed myself and my wife. I walked with her to the light and as we approached she turned to me and said, "It's not your time yet. I will be here waiting when it is but for now you have to go back." Later a doctor who witnessed the accident and was the first help on the scene told me there was no reason I was still in this world after what I had gone through.
I guess the point is if it is your time to go you will go. They may keep a lifeless mass of flesh breathing but you will go. On the other hand if it is not your time then medical treatment will not determine if you stay or go but may well determine your quality of life after you realise you are not going yet.
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| If It Isn't On Paper, It Won't Get Done. | Feb 11th. at 6:31:24 pm EST
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
While I agree with her sentiments, a tattoo would certainly not cover. She will need the proper paperwork to see that her wishes are carried out. In a court case, the tattoo would be merely considered body art and its intent lost.
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| It Isn't Always Horrible.. | Feb 11th. at 4:42:59 pm EST
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Lynette (Roanoke, Virginia) - Email Me
When my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the first thing he did was set up an Advanced Directive and a DNR. His doctor and all the folks at the cancer center understood that he MEANT that DNR. Unfortunately, he had the heart attack while being transported from home to the center for treatment.
The transporting medics had been caring for him for months, and they knew he didn't want to be brought back. But they had no paperwork. They did the best they could. They put him on minimum respiratory support, and ran for the ED. On the way, one of them called me on my cell and I was there two minutes after they pulled into the bay. They kept the ED docs from heroic measures and I was able to let everyone off the hook because I had a copy of the DNR in my purse.
The ED doc stopped the respiratory support, found us a quiet room and an hour later Dad finally slipped completely away.
I do know that if I ever reach the point that I need a DNR, I'll keep it taped to my chest.
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| Fortunately For Her | Feb 11th. at 3:58:57 pm EST
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Shadowbear (Hillsboro, Oregon) - Email Me
She is not relying on the tatoo, or the medical alert bracelet to convey her message, she also carries the appropriate legal paperwork in her purse at all times and has it with her doctor as well. She has covered the bases as well as she can and, we hope, will never need to find out if it works.
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| As A Retired Paramedic.... | Feb 11th. at 2:21:09 pm EST
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Riding A Pale Horse (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) - Email Me
to the best of my knowledge, a tattoo of "Do Not Resuscitate" is not considered a legal document and I don't know anywhere that it would hold up in a hospital or court setting. If she REALLY wants this, she would almost certainly need to have a physician fill out the proper documentation and literally wear it on a necklace, and even that wouldn't gaurantee that it would happen. In most cases the EMS team is looking only briefly for things such as Medica Alert bracelets to find out any possible problems and not looking through documents to decipher.
Now, to help clarify a few misconceptions for people. A "DNR" order means only that you can't RESUSCITATE, it doesn't mean that you do not render medical aid prior to the person needing resuscitation. If the person is clinically alive (pulse, respirations, etc) at the time EMS arrives, it is their duty, by law, to render aid UNLESS the patient is mentally sound enough to refuse treatment. Now, to counter that, if the patient has an Advanced Directive (and every "I" must be dotted for it to be legal, and if the responding medic has doubt he is often protected against disobeying the directive) that says no treatment is to be rendered in the case of impending death, that will normally suffice.
There are reasons that things are done the way they are. Sue-happy lawyers waiting for families to take a doctor/nurse/ambulance to court because they didn't let thier family member pass simply because a son or grandson told them to (yes, it has happened to me) , families that want to keep their 95+ year old grandmother alive even though she's way beyond that point, and other reasons that most people wouldn't believe. Like it or not, it ISN'T all about the doctor/hospital/ambulance wanting to make money by doing more work, it's just as much about protecting the patient against family who could potentially cause more harm, either by good intention or by outright malice. There has been many a time where I had to work a patient that I knew didn't want to keep going, but they didn't have the things I needed as a medical responder to let them die with dignity. It broke my heart to do some of the things I did to these people, but if I didn't, I could have lost everything my family owned to some greedy lawyer or family.
Rev. James M
Former EMT-Paramedic
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| I Hope It Works | Feb 11th. at 11:40:07 am EST
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Silverwing (Colorado Springs, Colorado) - Email Me
She has made her choice. To second the previous post - my friend just experienced a similar incident this weekend with her father. His biggest fear was to end up a ward of the state and have them "keep him alive' cause they could. He is mid 90s, close to out of it, DNR all over his records and the nursing home and doctor had both agreed not to send him to the hospital. A clerk on the weekend shift decided to send him in an ambulance to the hospital when he showed signs of a stroke. He is now admitted and they will not release him cause they don't know what is wrong with him...
She can do nothing. The doctor does not have privs at that hospital and so can do nothing. All the orders and legal documents in place to prevent this mean nothing and he is now in "the system." There is no reason for the hospital to release him as medicare is paying for it all. Taking him out against medical advice would finish his money cause he would be billed personally for the screwup. So. Medical Technology scores another one. Medicaid gets billed again! Patient - aka former "human" scores zero. He is now a lab rat.
Maybe he should have had a tattoo.
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| Good For Her! | Feb 11th. at 10:07:46 am EST
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Vema (Riverside, Missouri) - Email Me
She's standing up for herself and her rights, and more power to her. This may seem like an extreme measure to some, but I've known several people who have gone through horrible, traumatic periods after their loved ones were resuscitated, only to live in agony for a very short period of time and then die, myself included.
My grandfather even had a "Do Not Resuscitate" order and a living will at the hospital he was in, and they ignored it, resuscitated him, and hooked him up to a bunch of machines. To make it worse, he was conscious, so he was aware of the tubes going into him. After three weeks of this, his kidneys began failing and he passed about three days after that.
It was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever been a part of. Horrible for the family, horrible for the patient, and disrespectful all around. So I commend this woman on doing everything she can to avoid that sort of situation.
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