A nurse told a 911 dispatcher that there was no one at the senior living facility where she worked that could save the life of an elderly woman according to a report by ABC News on March 3. It happened in Bakersfield, Calif. and the dispatcher pleaded with the nurse to help save the woman, but the nurse responded that according to a new policy, she was not allowed to help her according to an audiotape of the call that was recently released.
The audiotape of the call confirmed:
“Is there anybody there that’s willing to help this lady and not let her die?” the dispatcher asked the nurse on the phone according to the 911 call that was released by the Bakersfield Fire Department. The nurse answered, "Not at this time."
The occurrence happened on Tuesday at Glenwood Gardens which is a senior living facility. Lorraine Bayless, 87, collapsed at the facility and in the recording the nurse said it was against the facility's policy for employees to perform CPR on residents. As each critical second went by, Bayless' survival chances got slimmer and slimmer. The dispatcher's attitude changed to desperate. She pleaded with the nurse to hand the phone to anyone, even a passerby, so they could perform the lifesaving procedure. The ambulance arrived after several minutes,and Bayless was taken to Mercy Southwest Hospital where she later died.
After the incident, Glenwood Gardens released a statement verifying that its policy did indeed forbid employees from performing CPR. The statement read:
“In the event of a health emergency at this independent living community, our practice is to immediately call emergency medical personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives. That is the protocol we followed.”
Even though it seemed that the protocol was being followed, the nursing home stated it would open an internal inquiry into the matter.
I don't know about anyone else, but something appears not to be right with this situation. I understand if there was a do not resuscitate order for the patient, but if not, then a nurse or other medical personnel should be allowed to perform CPR on their residents. What do you think about this?
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