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Would my having the properly signed copy of a DNR on my person at all times (along with some kind of placard to indicate where on my person it is) be sufficient

Would my having the properly signed copy of a DNR on my person at all times (along with some kind of placard to indicate where on my person it is) be sufficient in your opinion?

yaakov34 10y ago
My opinion is not valuable, since I don't know the laws in your jurisdiction. Since, in order to have a proper DNR order in your jurisdiction, you probably need to talk to a doctor, you should just ask them what the requirements are. Again, in New Jersey, what you say will be sufficient, and you can even have a DNR bracelet which is accepted without any further documents, but it's not just some bracelet which says "DNR", it is a non-removable hospital-type bracelet of an official design which has the name of the physician on it, if I recall. What I am trying to discourage is people engraving "DNR" on whatever bracelet or necklace they have, or tattooing it on their chest, without consulting a doctor or getting a proper order or anything else. This will generally not be sufficient, although, again, I don't know for your country or state or town specifically. EDIT: Let me just add that for most people, a living will is really what they want when they think of preventing lingering in the ICU. A living will can say, for example, that in case you become unable to function, and your condition will not improve according to your doctors, you do not wish to be placed on a respirator, or have feeding tubes inserted, or to be resuscitated. (Of course you should consult advisers to put this together.) A living will is not the same as a DNR order; it is more general. I think for most people it doesn't hurt to have it. On the other hand, walking around with a DNR order on you, if you are a person without a known great risk for cardiac arrest, is kind of pointless, IMO. You may, after all, become incapacitated in ways that do not involve cardiac arrest (like traumatic head injury or stroke).
DanBC 10y ago
A lot of people reduce advance directives / living wills down to DNR or not DNR, but actually that's the least useful bit of an advance directive. Advance directives should ideally cover all the situations in which you lose mental capacity. Who do you trust to make medical decisions on your behalf; who do you trust to take financial decisions on your behalf; do you care what happens to your corpse, and so on.

Would my having the properly signed copy of a DNR on my person at all times (along with some kind of placard to indicate where on my person it is) be sufficient in your opinion?

yaakov34 10y ago

My opinion is not valuable, since I don't know the laws in your jurisdiction. Since, in order to have a proper DNR order in your jurisdiction, you probably need to talk to a doctor, you should just ask them what the requirements are. Again, in New Jersey, what you say will be sufficient, and you can even have a DNR bracelet which is accepted without any further documents, but it's not just some bracelet which says "DNR", it is a non-removable hospital-type bracelet of an official design which has the name of the physician on it, if I recall. What I am trying to discourage is people engraving "DNR" on whatever bracelet or necklace they have, or tattooing it on their chest, without consulting a doctor or getting a proper order or anything else. This will generally not be sufficient, although, again, I don't know for your country or state or town specifically. EDIT: Let me just add that for most people, a living will is really what they want when they think of preventing lingering in the ICU. A living will can say, for example, that in case you become unable to function, and your condition will not improve according to your doctors, you do not wish to be placed on a respirator, or have feeding tubes inserted, or to be resuscitated. (Of course you should consult advisers to put this together.) A living will is not the same as a DNR order; it is more general. I think for most people it doesn't hurt to have it. On the other hand, walking around with a DNR order on you, if you are a person without a known great risk for cardiac arrest, is kind of pointless, IMO. You may, after all, become incapacitated in ways that do not involve cardiac arrest (like traumatic head injury or stroke).

DanBC 10y ago

A lot of people reduce advance directives / living wills down to DNR or not DNR, but actually that's the least useful bit of an advance directive. Advance directives should ideally cover all the situations in which you lose mental capacity. Who do you trust to make medical decisions on your behalf; who do you trust to take financial decisions on your behalf; do you care what happens to your corpse, and so on.