I actually don't disagree with that, although the statistics will vary depending on the population served by this particular hospital (e.g. hospital near a ski

I actually don't disagree with that, although the statistics will vary depending on the population served by this particular hospital (e.g. hospital near a ski slope which sees a high number of relatively healthy people who collapsed due to an accident or hidden medical issue will probably have better rates). Unfortunately, the "median" resuscitation call, in my own experience, is for something like "77-year-old cancer patient who is unconscious". We get there and see that there is no pulse, we have to go through the motions if there is no DNR order, but everyone knows it's hopeless, since it's not like we can cure cancer while we do chest compressions. Sometimes we can get a pulse back, but we know - although not "officially" - that the patient will be pronounced dead at the hospital within a few hours. Now I will say one thing here - it is often easier for the family to go through this process, since they can feel that "they've done everything till the very end", although from the point of view of medical practice it would be better to have a DNR order; that's really the type of situation that these orders are for. But to reiterate - if you don't actually have disease that you know of, I would personally recommend giving yourself a chance, like that guy with the pneumothorax got. it's up to you, of course. Though I would say that a living will is probably more useful for most relatively healthy people than a DNR order, since you can end up in a situation in which you are unable to function without any resuscitation being involved. I think a lot of the people commenting in this thread are really thinking of these more long-term situations, rather than resuscitation, which is an on-the-spot decision.