Do Not Resuscitate

As I sit day in and day out watching over patients in the intensive care unit I often find myself passively viewing my patients as well...patients.  Not people.  Most of them can't talk and really just lie there waiting for the elevator to descend to their floor and pick them up.  This view may sound morbid, and in some ways it is, but it is also much more than that.  I am able to view death with an unbiased, unemotionally inhibited outlook.  This brings me to the DNR or "Do Not Resuscitate".  This order in a patient's chart says that in the event that the patient's heart stops or he or she stops breathing, nothing will be done.  It sounds harsh but this is actually in some instances a very humane decision.  Some people lie there in pain for a long time just waiting for deaths respite.  The Person I don't want to become is actually a couple of people.  I don't want to be that person sitting there waiting for that DNR, and I definitely don't want to be the family that has to actually request the DNR order.  As a third party bystander I can easily see who needs to be a DNR and who doesn't, but as a family member with emotions involved it completely changes things.  But on the other hand a DNR can be an incredibly empowering thing.  It allows you and the rest of your family to come to grips with the loved ones impending demise and also gives time to get affairs in order.  The grieving process can also begin at an earlier stage allowing for a sooner arrival at acceptance.  DNR isn't giving up because death comes to all.  It is strictly allowing things to happen as they naturally would.