BMJ  2006;332:609 (11 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7541.609

Letter

Please do not resuscitate

Communication is key

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Conroy et al are right to point out that the potential benefits and risks of cardiopulmonary resuscitation are not the same for everyone.¹ However, the suggestion that decisions about interventions should be based on the care setting, rather than the needs of individuals, seems wholly inappropriate. The proposal that elderly people may be offered the choice of refusing a care home on the basis of its resuscitation policy ignores the reality of the pressure which is routinely placed on elderly patients and their families to find and move into a care home, to free up a hospital bed, often without the benefit of rehabilitation.

Part of the medical profession's role is surely to develop effective communication of both the risks and the benefits of interventions, at both population and individual levels. There is also a duty to find out what is important to individual patients and to respond . . . [Full text of this article]

Age Concern England, London SW16 media@ace.org.uk

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