RESUSCITATION

As people live ever longer and eventually move into care institutions, the issue arises of what to do about resuscitation. As the law currently stands in Denmark, care personnel are obliged to try and resuscitate elderly patients who have a heart attack, even in cases where the person concerned has previously expressed a clear desire not be treated in such a situation. Normally that would involve first aid and heart massage until such time as an ambulance arrives. However, more and more care homes have now installed heart starters, which will increase the chances of a patient's surviving a heart attack.

What is problematic is that the legal position is different from that in a hospital, where patients have clearly defined rights, including the right not to be treated in certain circumstances. The somewhat paradoxical result is that the less the personnel are medically trained, the more they have a legal responsibility to try and prolong life.

This is not in anybody's interest, least of all the individual's. As with many other things in a modern and complicated welfare state, there needs to be a review of the law in order to bring it into line with reality.

Walter Blotscher