Wis. Admin. Code Department of Health Services DHS 125.05 - Following do-not-resuscitate orders
(1) GENERAL
REQUIREMENT. Emergency health care personnel shall follow a do-not-resuscitate
order, as evidenced by a patient wearing a do-not-resuscitate bracelet, unless
the order is invalidated by a condition under sub. (3). If there is any doubt
about honoring a do-not-resuscitate bracelet, emergency medical services
practitioners and emergency medical responders shall contact the medical
control hospital and emergency health care facility staff shall contact the
director of emergency services.
(2)
P ROCEDURE. Emergency health care personnel shall carry out the following
procedure in the emergency care setting:
(a)
Assess the patient.
(b) If the
patient is pulseless and non-breathing, check the patient's wrist for a
do-not-resuscitate bracelet.
(c) If
no do-not-resuscitate bracelet is found on the patient's wrist, provide usual
care.
(d) If a do-not-resuscitate
bracelet is found on the patient's wrist, and the bracelet is not defaced, do
not undertake life support measures. Provide comfort care.
Note: Examples of comfort care include, but are not limited to, administration of oxygen, clearing the airway, controlling bleeding, positioning for comfort, providing emotional support, providing pain medication and splinting.
(3) CONDITIONS INVALIDATING A
DO-NOT-RESUSCITATE ORDER. Any of the following conditions, as set out in s.
154.19(3)
(b), Stats., invalidates a do-not-resuscitate
order and therefore the obligation of emergency health care personnel to be
bound by it and to honor the do-not-resuscitate bracelet on the patient's wrist
or with the patient:
(a) The patient has
revoked the do-not-resuscitate order by doing any of the following:
1. Expressing to an emergency medical
services practitioner, emergency medical responder, or emergency health care
facility staff member the desire to be resuscitated. When this is done,
emergency health care personnel shall promptly remove the do-not-resuscitate
bracelet.
2. Defacing, burning,
cutting or otherwise destroying the do-not-resuscitate bracelet.
3. Removing the do-not-resuscitate bracelet
or asking another person to remove it.
(b) The do-not-resuscitate bracelet appears
to have been tampered with or removed.
(c) The emergency medical services
practitioner, emergency medical responder, or emergency health care facility
staff member knows that the patient is pregnant.
(4) PATIENT DESIRE NOT TO BE RESUSCITATED IS
CONTROLLING. If a member of the patient's family or a friend of the patient
requests that resuscitative measures be taken, that person's request does not
supersede the do-not-resuscitate order for the patient if the patient is
wearing a valid do-not-resuscitate bracelet and has not revoked the order under
s.
154.21,
Stats.
(5) DOCUMENTATION OF PATIENT
CONTACT AND REMOVAL OF PATIENT.
(a) Even if
resuscitation is not attempted, the emergency medical services practitioner,
emergency medical responder or emergency health care facility staff member
shall document the patient contact in the patient's medical record or the
ambulance run report form, as appropriate.
(b) Local protocols shall determine the
procedure for removing the patient from the emergency care setting.
(6) VIOLATIONS . An emergency
medical services practitioner, emergency medical responder or emergency health
care facility staff member who does any of the following is subject to the
penalties set forth in s.
154.29(1) or
(2), Stats.:
(a) Willfully conceals, defaces or damages a
patient's do-not-resuscitate bracelet without the patient's consent.
(b) With the intent to cause withholding or
withdrawal of resuscitation contrary to the wishes of a patient, falsifies,
forges or transfers a do-not-resuscitate bracelet to that patient or conceals
the patient's revocation of a do-not-resuscitate order.
(c) Withholds personal knowledge of a
patient's revocation of a do-not-resuscitate order.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.