How are DNR orders, living wills, and health care powers of attorney used?
A living will might be used to direct a physician to write a DNR order: Jane decides she does not want to receive CPR. She obtains a living will form and fills it out properly. Later, Jane becomes debilitated and needs home health care, but she hasn’t discussed resuscitation with her doctor and a specific DNR order has not been written. One day, the visiting nurse arrives to find that Jane is not breathing. At this point, the nurse begins CPR, because a DNR order has not been written. If Jane is resuscitated and transferred to a hospital, her doctors may write a DNR order, but only if they decide she is terminally ill or permanently unconscious. Jane’s living will can serve as evidence that she does not want to be resuscitated in such a circumstance. Her doctor may write a DNR order so that, if Jane’s heart stops beating again, she will not be resuscitated. A health care power of attorney might be used to authorize a DNR order: Bill decides that, under some circumstances, he would not
