'Do Not Resuscitate' Orders: Incidence and Implications in a Medical Intensive Care Unit

'Do Not Resuscitate' Orders: Incidence and Implications in a Medical Intensive Care Unit

Youngner SJ; Lewandowski W; McClish DK; Juknialis BW; Coulton C; Bartlett ET

Jama

1985

"Do not resuscitate" (DNR) decisions were examined in a medical intensive care unit (MICU) of a 1,000-bed hospital. Seventy-one (14%) of 506 study patients were designated DNR; nine survived hospitalization. Severity of illness, age, and prior health were predictive of DNR orders; race and socioeconomic factors were not. The DNR patients consumed more resources, both before and after DNR orders. Interventions started before DNR designation were continued in at least 76% of patients. Documented justifications of DNR decisions included poor prognosis (59%), poor quality of life (24%), and patients' wishes (15%). There were no written justifications for the DNR decisions in 30 cases (42%). Although willingness to write DNR orders in an MICU and continued active treatment of DNR patients are both reassuring in a general sense, they raise questions about the consistency of treatment plans and goals for individual patients.(JAMA 1985;253:54-57)

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