‘Do not resuscitate’ orders caused potentially avoidable deaths, regulator finds

Do-not-resuscitate orders were wrongly allocated to some care home residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, causing potentially avoidable deaths, the first phase of a review by England’s Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found.

The regulator warned that some of the “inappropriate” do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) notices applied in the spring may still be in place and called on all care providers to check with the person concerned that they consent.

The review was prompted by concerns about the blanket application of the orders in care homes in the early part of the pandemic, amid then prevalent fears that NHS hospitals would be overwhelmed.

The CQC received 40 submissions from the public, mostly about DNACPR orders that had been put in place without consulting with the person or their family. These included reports of all the residents of one care home being given a DNACPR notice, and of the notices routinely being applied to anyone infected with Covid.

Some people reported that they did not even know a DNACPR order had been placed on their relative until they were quite unwell.

“There is evidence of unacceptable and inappropriate DNACPRs being made at the start of the pandemic,” the interim report found, adding that the practice may have caused “potentially avoidable death”.

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Source: The Guardian, 3 December 2020