Refusal to Resuscitate: Paramedic Disciplined

A British Health Professions Council panel has found paramedic Alan Clark guilty of misconduct for refusing to resuscitate a 93-year-old woman with COPD.  (HPC Committee Finding; Daily Mail)  Clark allegedly determined that the woman was "life extinct" even though he had not determined how long she had stopped breathing and even though there was no “do not resuscitate” or living will formally in place.




Interestingly, the Panel also considered related charges that Clark engaged in a show code ("mimicked resuscitation") to appease the family of a different patient.  But the Panel dismissed those charges because there was insufficient evidence.