The New York Times
December 6, 2010
Let’s imagine an end-of-life scenario. Your ailing and elderly parent has been admitted to the hospital yet again with a condition she’s not going to recover from. The medical team asks what they should do if her heart stops. She’s always said she didn’t want to die “hooked up to a bunch of machines,” but you’ve never really explored the details. Besides, though she has a terminal illness, no one has yet mentioned the d-word.
The key question: Should your parent have a D.N.R. order, meaning “do not resuscitate”?
Before you answer, another key question: Would that decision be any clearer, easier or less painful if the order was instead called A.N.D., for “allow natural death?”
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