Ent: The Breach

[Fianna]

Aren't patients normally entitled to refuse treatment? Assuming they're adults, and haven't been judged mentally incompetent, they can refuse even life-saving medical treatment if they so choose. That's what "Do Not Resuscitate" forms are about.

[Frustration]

In some places, patients only have the right to refuse life-saving treatment until they lose consciousness, at which point the doctors move in. I suspect it's a legal issue, since people who have properly-filed DNRs seem not to have such problems.

[McAvoy]

In some places, patients only have the right to refuse life-saving treatment until they lose consciousness, at which point the doctors move in. I suspect it's a legal issue, since people who have properly-filed DNRs seem not to have such problems.

I was going to say the same thing. DNR is taken seriously due to legal ramifications.

I never investigated where a doctor could override a patient's wishes once unconscious, (short of convincing the family to step in of course) can be done without legal ramifications either.

[Fianna]

There might be cases where the doctor could say, "Yes, while they were conscious, the patient refused treatment, but them falling unconscious means their condition has changed. Just because they refused treatment under one set of conditions doesn't necessarily mean they'd refuse treatment under any and all conditions. If we could ask them about it now, they might give us a different answer."

[Frustration]

And again, I'm pretty sure those arguments are just wallpaper rationalizations to avoid having to say the real reasons: doctors can be held legally accountable if they let someone die without an official piece of paper saying they're allowed to do nothing, and doctors always feel they know best.