A type of advance directive, commonly known as a DNR, made by an individual or the person’s physician, stating exactly under which circumstances the person should or should not be resuscitated.
An order by the physician, with respect to a specific patient, to the effect that, should cardiac arrest or respiratory arrest occur, no attempt should be made to give cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to the patient (restart the heart or otherwise revive her). “Do not resuscitate” is sometimes translated into the jargon that the patient is “not to be coded,” or “do not code this patient”; this means that a code blue signal should not be issued. A suggestion has been made that the term “do not resuscitate” be changed to “do not attempt resuscitation” (DNAR). A DNR order may be issued for one or more of three reasons: (1) no medical benefit; (2) poor quality of life predicted after CPR; or (3) poor quality of life before CPR. Or, such an order may be issued because a competent adult patient has asked not to be resuscitated. There is controversy about the circumstances under which a DNR order may be issued for an incompetent patient. The conservative approach is to obtain the consent of the patient’s legal representative for any DNR order; however, some believe that no consent is required where there is no medical benefit, since CPR would not be medically indicated under these circumstances. (For example, consent is not required to “not perform” an appendectomy, if an appendectomy is not medically indicated.)
A directive that explicitly states that if an individual’s heart ceases to function, they should not be administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).