BMJ 1994;308:1687-1689 (25 June)

Education and debate

Should relatives be allowed to watch resuscitation?

Workingham, Berkshire RG11 3ER Barnet General Hospital, Hertfordshire EN5 3DJ Department of Anaesthesia, Frenchay Hospital, Bristol BS16 1LE Department of Cardiology, Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh EH3 9YW Department of General Practice and Primary Care, King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry, London SE5 9PJ.

The sudden death of someone after an accident at a public event can be difficult for relatives to cope with. Doctors' attention is focused on the patient, and the needs of relatives are often unheard. Sarah Adams describes her feelings when her brother died after falling from his horse at the Windsor international three day event, and a doctor who was on duty at the event gives his view. We asked an anaesthetist who was a member of the Resuscitation Council, a cardiologist who runs a resuscitation training course, and a general practitioner with a special interest in ethics to comment on Sarah Adams's wish to be present during attempts to resuscitate her brother.


A sister's experience

S Adams

My younger brother, Richard Adams, had spent the best part of his life riding and competing horses, the last four years professionally. On the day of the cross country phase of last year's . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Should relatives watch resuscitation? A haunting experience in Nepal
S Britten, J Day, J Wright, and H Ford
BMJ 1994 309: 670. [Extract] [Full Text]

Should relatives watch resuscitation? No room for spectators
R J Schilling, C Crisci, K C Judkins, N Zoltie, J P Sloan, B Wright, H Mehanna, and R Hatchett
BMJ 1994 309: 406. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Levetown, M., and the Committee on Bioethics, (2008). Communicating With Children and Families: From Everyday Interactions to Skill in Conveying Distressing Information. Pediatrics 121: e1441-e1460 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • Critchell, C. D., Marik, P. E. (2007). Should Family Members Be Present During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation? A Review of the Literature. AM J HOSP PALLIAT CARE 24: 311-317 [Abstract]  
  • O'Connell, K. J., Farah, M. M., Spandorfer, P., Zorc, J. J. (2007). Family Presence During Pediatric Trauma Team Activation: An Assessment of a Structured Program. Pediatrics 120: e565-e574 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • (2005). Part 2: Ethical Issues. Circulation 112: IV-6-IV-11 [Full text]  
  • Grice, A. S., Picton, P., Deakin, C. D. S. (2003). Study examining attitudes of staff, patients and relatives to witnessed resuscitation in adult intensive care units. Br J Anaesth 91: 820-824 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • MacLean, S. L., Guzzetta, C. E., White, C., Fontaine, D., Eichhorn, D. J., Meyers, T. A., Desy, P. (2003). Family Presence During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Invasive Procedures: Practices of Critical Care and Emergency Nurses. Am J Crit Care 12: 246-257 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • McClenathan, B. M., Torrington, K. G., Uyehara, C. F.T. (2002). Family Member Presence During Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: A Survey of US and International Critical Care Professionals. Chest 122: 2204-2211 [Abstract] [Full text]  
  • Tsai, E. (2002). Should Family Members Be Present during Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation?. NEJM 346: 1019-1021 [Full text]  



Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student 

BMJ