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I was just about to email you on just this topic when I saw this post. Maybe other readers will find my family's experience helpful. I hope they (and you) can offer some suggestions.

My sister had been in and out of the hospital for several years for complications of end-stage COPD--same doctor, same hospital. When she came very close to dying in the ER last year, she worked with hospice to make it very clear that she had legally enforceable "Do Not Resuscitate" orders, including printing up bright pink sheets for home and hospital saying so in large bold letters. Her home caretaker understood the orders too. We thought...

A week ago today her caretaker found her slumped in her chair and cold to the touch. She called 911, the paramedics (as required) did CPR, got a little heartbeat, took her to the ER where they put her on life support. This is exactly what she did NOT want, and that order should have been readily accessible to any doctor who bothered to check.

I know this story is far from unique, and I wonder just what it is that people need to do to make sure that their wishes are carried out. I wondered, for myself, about actually getting a little tattoo on my chest, but a Google search revealed that this would not be considered legally binding.

So what's a person to do? Are microchips a possibility?

Having to withdraw a loved one from life support is so hard on the family. I've had to do it twice now, and I really don't want my family to have to make that choice.

Liz, I'm sorry for your loss.

I don't know what the answer is. If you had been designated as the person to make health-care decisions for your sister, perhaps you could have intervened, although it's not clear from your post at what point you became aware that something was going on with your sister. But as I say, I don't know the answer.

Anyone?

Thanks for your kind words, Lex.

This may be too far down in your blog list for many people to see it, but for what it's worth:

Since she was put on life support in the ER before any of us was notified, the only intervention option we had was to order all but palliative care removed. Another complication is that her daughters and I all live hundreds of miles from my sister's home, so no change in her care could be made until her healthcare POA arrived that evening.

More Googling leads me to believe that ignoring DNRs is quite common. I wonder what the policy is at local hospitals, or whether it is left up to individual ER doctors.