A shocking report by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has suggested that over 100 patients may have had their right to life breached by “do not resuscitate” orders issued during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CQC report found “worrying variation” in patients’ experiences during hospitalisation due to COVID-19, including no consultations regarding “do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation” orders, known as DNACPRs.
The review was ordered by the Department of Health and Social Care after accounts had been received about people with learning disabilities receiving DNACPRs during the pandemic.
As SPUC reported earlier this year, a preliminary report by the CQC revealed “evidence of unacceptable and inappropriate” DNACPRs at the start of the pandemic.
The Department of Health and Social Care said that it was “completely unacceptable for ‘do not attempt CPR’ decisions to be applied in a blanket fashion to any group of people. This has never been policy and we have taken action to prevent this from happening.”
The findings of the CQC now also states that it appears that many families received little if any consultation regarding DNACPRs. It has called for ministerial action to answer this worrying trend.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “The CQC findings, though shocking, are not altogether surprising given the worrying societal and legislative trend towards discarding the old and the vulnerable rather than affording them appropriate care.
“The fact that some families were not even consulted reveals how many doctors seemingly took DNACPRs for granted.
“And what we also see here is the appalling attitude exhibited towards the disabled, who are rapidly being treated more like second-class citizens whose right to life is not held to be sacrosanct or important enough to be protected.”
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