Hi everybody, Clayton Vandiver, your Lightkeeper
here, and for this summer we have a real treat
for you. Lightkeepers Podcast Shorts. No, that's
not a new clothing line. What it is, is short
versions of some of our most popular episodes
that we keep getting requests to show you again.
So we've cut them down, made them all less than
10 minutes long, and here you go with part one
of the Lightkeepers Podcast Shorts. Hello and
welcome to the Light Keepers podcast. I'm Clayton
Vandiver, your Light Keeper, with a show dedicated
to everyone who wants to get the most out of
life that they can. We don't talk about the end
of life. We focus on the quality of life. My
co -host on this episode, Charlene, a licensed
clinical social worker, she'll be helping us
answer this week's question, to be or not to
be. The question of DNR and what that means to
you and the medical community and so much more
on this edition of the Light Keepers podcast.
Before we start, I'd like to invite you to please
leave your questions or comments below. We love
to hear from you. This week's topic, DNR, an
acronym that stands for Do Not Resuscitate. Once
again with us is Charlene, a licensed clinical
social worker who has a lot of great information
about DNR for us. Hi, Charlene. Hi. Thank you
for joining us this evening. My pleasure. And
the first thing I guess we need to establish
for our guests. for our listeners and viewers
is exactly what is DNR? Ah, that's a good question.
So a do not resuscitate order is exactly what
it sounds like. It's a medical order that has
to be signed by an individual and that individual's
physician stating that that person does not want
to be resuscitated if their heart stops. Now,
what this means is that if someone's heart stops,
they will not receive CPR, defibrillation, anything
like that to try to get their heart restarted.
Now, not everyone can be a DNR, even if you want
to be. Oh, okay. Not everyone can be. DNRs are
usually reserved for individuals who are maybe
elderly and frail, someone with a terminal illness.
Not just anyone can get a do not resuscitate
order just because they don't want their heart
to be restarted if their heart stops. There has
to be a good medical reason behind it. Well,
that begs a very good question then. Why would
someone not want to be resuscitated if they were
injured or if they have a negative health event?
Why is it so important to tell the medical community
that you have a do not resuscitate? So there's
a lot of important reasons. First of all, if
you are someone who maybe has a terminal illness
and you have that do not resuscitate order, you
don't want to be resuscitated only to have to
die again later. The reason it's so important
for your medical team to know that you have that
order is because without that order, the medical...
the medical community, they are required to do
everything they can to keep you alive. Really?
Yes. Okay. And so what that means is that unless
you have a piece of paper in your medical chart
that your doctor is aware of, don't assume doctors
read charts, first of all. Okay, that's a good
point. But you have to have a piece of paper
in your chart that your medical team is aware
of. Otherwise, if your heart stops, they're going
to do chest compressions. They're going to do
defibrillation, which is the electric shock.
And there's a very good chance that you're going
to be intubated and put on a ventilator. And
that's the sticking point. That's what a lot
of people don't want. Well, because those procedures
would actually potentially do more harm than
good if you indeed were close to the end of life
anyway. Potentially. They can actually hurt you.
How much of an impact do they typically have
when you have chest compressions and those sorts
of procedures done? So chest compressions can
be a very violent procedure. The heart is protected
behind the ribs for a reason. It's a very delicate
organ that keeps us alive. But what that means
is if it stops, you have to move those ribs to
get the heart restarted, to manipulate it back,
which means there's a very good chance in the
CPR process that ribs are going to be broken.
Wow. Ribs can be broken, sternum can be cracked,
lungs can be punctured. There's a lot of injuries
that can happen in the resuscitation process.
Now, for some people, that risk of injury is
worth it to have that opportunity to come back.
Sure. But if you're in a frail condition, if
you're maybe very elderly, very frail, or very
sickly, those injuries are just going to add
on to the very reason you wanted that do not
resuscitate order in the first place. That makes
a very good point that there is a time when having
that in place could actually preserve a little
bit of quality of life a little bit longer or
allow you to go when your time is... without
interventions that you didn't want. And the way
that we often refer to it in the industry is
allowing a natural death. And what that means
is you're allowed to die naturally with only
the medication necessary for comfort. Well, we
hope you found some information that was helpful
to you on this edition of the Light Keepers podcast.
Please leave your questions or comments below.
We love to hear from you. For more information
on A Guiding Light, please visit the website
at aguidinglight .org, or to make a tax -deductible
contribution and help those less fortunate find
the information and resources they need, please
visit the donation page on the website where
you will find tax information and the address
to send a check, or it's also on the screen right
below me. We're so grateful for your support
and sincerely hope that you will join us in coming
weeks. We still have topics like organ donors
and hospitals, funeral homes and your plans,
the gap between medical jargon and medical care,
and legal jargon. metabolized grief, ingesting
grief, normalizing loss, hospice. It's not just
for the last few days or hours. Medical plans
and paperwork, and of course, your questions
and comments. We love to hear from you. Speaking
of that, hit the like and subscribe buttons and
turn on that notify bell so you catch every episode.
I'm Clayton Vandiver, the Light Keeper. We'll
see you next time. Stay tuned for part two of
this special episode of Light Keepers Podcast
Shorts. Remember to subscribe. We'll see you
next time.