Universal Healthcare, U.K. : Automatic DNR Orders For Down Syndrome Patients During Pandemic?

 From The Guardian in the United Kingdom comes the unsettling news that, during the pandemic, "Do Not Resuscitate" (DNR) orders have been written for Down's syndrome persons without consent. 

"People with learning disabilities (such as Down’s syndrome) have been given do not resuscitate orders during the second wave of the pandemic, in spite of widespread condemnation of the practice last year and an urgent investigation by the care watchdog."

"Mencap said it had received reports in January from people with learning disabilities that they had been told they would not be resuscitated if they were taken ill with Covid-19."

"The Care Quality Commission said in December that inappropriate Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) notices had caused potentially avoidable deaths last year."

"Edel Harris, Mencap’s chief executive, said: 'Throughout the pandemic many people with a learning disability have faced shocking discrimination and obstacles to accessing healthcare, with inappropriate Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) notices put on their files and cuts made to their social care support.'"

"A spokesperson from the Department of Health and Social Care said: 'It is 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.'"

That such a thing could happen can only be made understandable if one sees this as a result of a government run health care system in which the overarching goal is not preserving life but instead is saving money.

This is not the first time I have heard of something like this happening in the U.K. I was told by a physician friend who moved from England to the U.S. that he had to leave when his hospital started automatically placing DNR orders on all patients over the age of 65, and that he was ordered to stop CPR on a patient who had entered the hospital at 64 years old but whose 65th birthday had occurred while hospitalized.

The dangers of a top down run, one size fits all health care system are very real, but I fear that is the way we are headed as our young people increasingly seem to favor such an approach.