Courses
36th Annual WVNEC Symposium Coming May 2024
Information will be forthcoming.
June 14, 2023 - Attempted Suicide in a Patient with a DNR Order: What Should You Do?
Suicide is an important problem among older adults. Suicide rates are particularly high among older men with men over the age of 85 having the highest rate of any group in the United States. Risk factors for suicide in older adults include depression, social isolation, and physical illness with disability and pain.
Responding to a patient who has attempted suicide who also has a do not resuscitate (DNR) order presents a challenging ethical dilemma. The medical literature gives reasons both to honor and not honor a DNR order after a suicide attempt. Although the default position in medicine is to preserve life, it may be appropriate to withhold cardiopulmonary resuscitation attempts in certain situations with suicidal patients. Hear our interdisciplinary panel discuss this particularly complex ethical dilemma and identify circumstances when it may be appropriate to honor a DNR order after a suicide attempt.
WVNEC would really appreciate your input and requests concerning educational opportunities. What do you want to learn, discuss, or practice? Do you want lectures, case discussions, policy sharing? Whatever it is, let us know, and we will do what we can to make distance learning/sharing as interesting and educational as possible.
For additional information or suggestions for future webinars, contact Linda McMillen at lmcmillen@hsc.wvu.edu or 304-293-7618.