There has a been a lot in the press recently about a system that was called the 'Liverpool pathway'.Unfortunately it was wrongly interpreted by doctors and nurses and resulted in dying patients not getting the best treatments.This does raise important questions for all of us .
We are all living , on average, longer lives and with more illnesses.It might be helpful for everyone if we consider what care we might want for ourselves and our loved ones going forward.Some people will have been shocked to be asked by the GPs whether if they had a serious event such as a heart attack and their heart stopped if they wanted to get the medical experts and the family to try to give thim what is called 'CPR'. This stands for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and was decribed as 'mouth to mouth' or breathing into the mouth and compression of the chest like when someone is rescued from drowning.Realistically even in hospital, this is only successfull in less than 1 in 5 times so we have got to be aware that recovery is any event is less likely than not .
It is important to realize that if someone says they would prefer not to have 'CPR' that does not ,and should not, mean the person will stop getting the care and compassion they need nor does it mean that the doctors will give up on them.
It might be better to ask our family ,as they get older and frailer, what they want to happen. This is especially important to establish when they are able to have the ability to understand the decision and what the decision means in real life. In other words when they have their faculties about them.
Please discuss these issues with your family. The doctors are happy to talk to you about anything regarding this sensitive subject.(updated 29/7/15)