Woman Dies After Nursing Home Refuses CPR
By: Robert Bumsted
Updated: March 5, 2013
Police in California are investigating the death of a woman at an assisted care facility.
A
nurse at the Glenwood Gardens facility in Bakersfield, CA called 911 last week
after a resident had stopped breathing. The emergency dispatcher instructed the
nurse to start doing CPR, but she refused saying it was the facility's policy
not to provide care.
During the seven minute 911 call, the dispatcher pleads with the nurse to begin the procedure, or give the phone to a passerby who could assist, but the nurse refuses.
"I was flabbergasted thinking they would do that," said Mary Haverstick of the St. Anne Home in Fort Wayne. St. Anne's provides the same type of care as the California facility, but Haverstick said her nurses would always provide CPR if necessary, unless the patient had signed a "do not resuscitate" order.
According to both California and Indiana law, citizens aren't required to save someone in medical danger. But if you do, you're not liable for injuries resulting from the care, so it's not yet clear why the facility would have that rule in place.
