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87 year-old Lorraine Bayless was enjoying lunch with her friends at the Glenwood Garden senior home in Bakersfield, California when she suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed to the floor. Staff at the facility, including a nurse, immediately rushed to Ms. Bayless’ side and called 9-1-1. Emergency dispatcher Tracey Halvorson answered the 9-1-1 call and immediately assessed that for Ms. Bayless to live someone needed to start CPR immediately. Ms. Bayless did not have a “DNR” or Do Not Resuscitate order and had expressed her interests that the home take life-saving measures to keep her alive. Things then went from sad to horrific, as the nurse flatly refused to perform CPR, to allow anyone else to perform CPR and watched as Ms. Bayless slowly died before her eyes. Here is the heart jerking 9-1-1 tape of that call between dispatcher Halvorson and the nurse at Glenwood Garden:
Most stunning to me is the tone of the nurse and Halvorson. Halvorson clearly cares that Ms. Bayless lives and uses every tool in her box to coax the nurse into life-saving action. The nurse cares far more about following her version of the rules than she cares about whether Ms. Bayless lives or dies. In fact, the nurse sounds like she is a bit annoyed that she is being asked to do something. In a completely flat tone of someone “just doing what she has been told to do without thought,” the nurse explains that “it is the policy of the facility not to perform any medical services for their residents.”
When it is clear that the nurse, who has been trained in CPR, is absolutely and completely refusing to do CPR Halvorson asks “Anybody there can do CPR. Give them the phone please. I understand if your facility is not willing to do that. Give the phone to that passerby,”
Halvorson: ”This woman is not breathing enough. She is going to die if we don’t get this started. If you are not willing to do it, can you hand the phone to someone who is willing to save her life?”
Nurse: ”I understand, I am a nurse but I can’t have our other senior citizens that don’t know CPR doing that.”
Halvorson expresses her frustration: “I will instruct them, is there anyone there that can follow my instructions?”
Once again, in a dead calm and uncaring voice the nurse repeats: “I cannot do that.”
Halvorson: “I don’t understand why you are not willing to help this patient.”
Nurse: “I am”
Halvorson: “Great, then I will walk you through it all. EMS takes liability for this Colleen. I am happy to help you. This is EMS protocol, OK?”
Nurse: (turning away from phone and sounding annoyed with EMS) “Can you get [the supervisor] right away? I don’t know where he is but she is yelling at me and saying that we have to have one of our other patients perform CPR and she will instruct them and I am not going to do that. I am not going to make that call.”
Halvorson: “Colleen, is there anyone that works there that is willing to do it?”
Nurse: “We can’t.”
Halvorson: “Are we just going to let this lady die?”
Nurse: “Well, that’s why we are calling 9-1-1″
Halvorson: “We can’t wait. She can’t wait right now. She’s stopping breathing. She can’t wait for them to get there.”
Nurse: “[My boss] is saying we don’t. So, you can talk to my boss and I don’t . . . ”
Halvorson: “OK, they’re refusing CPR and they are just going to let her die.”
Nurse: “When will the Fire Department get here?”
Halvorson: “They’re coming as quick . . . they have been on the way this whole time. But we can’t wait, this lady’s going to die. OK, if you get anybody, any stranger that happens to walk by that’s willing to help, I understand your boss is telling you that you can’t do it . . . as a human being, I don’t know. Is there anyone there that is willing to help this lady and not let her die?”
Nurse: “Not at this time.”
As a nation, as a people, as individual people we have lost our compass and veered off of the path of humanity. The Nazi’s fed on people like this, that were willing to follow the rules to the letter regardless of the humanity of the situation. Avoiding “trouble” was so important to this cold-blooded nurse that she would rather watch one of her patients die than expose herself to the possibility that she might be sued for doing something wrong.
Glenwood Gardens In Bakersfield California where everyone was instructed not to perform CPR to save patient’s life
This is not a laughing matter in any way, but this event does remind me of the culminating episode of Seinfeld where the four main characters wind up in jail because the stand by and watch someone be seriously hurt with a “oh well, what can you do” attitude. Unfortunately this time it was not satire, it was real life and Ms. Bayless died because no one would do anything to help her.
HotAir
“As a nation, as a people, as individual people we have lost our compass and veered off of the path of humanity.”
I lay the blame squarely on the shoulders of the litigious nature of lawyers…aka “ambulance chasers” and the rules makers. They have put Americans in fear of doing the right thing. I won’t go Godwin as the author did but a correlation with lawyers as enforcers of the letter of the law could easily be made as that is their basic function in society.
Snoopy, it isn’t unfair to place a fair piece of the blame here on lawyers specifically and the justice systme generally. Without minimizing that acknowlegment, it is the role of the lawyers to advocate their client’s position and the jury’s (the people’s) obligation to process that advocacy and decide justice. The current “we are owed” mentaility bleeds out of our justice system and onto our streets producing inhuman behavior like that demonstrated by this nurse and her care facility.
It’s safe to assume that both the resident and the employee knew the protocol of the facility. If there is fault, it lies with the facility’s protocol. But I’m sure there are hoards of lawyers seeking a “client” and a “position” to “advocate” for. After all, lawyers are “owed” by virtue of their sheepskin.
It is absurd to take this event and turn it into a vague traducement of the legal profession. Lawyers represent clients, not themselves. If, as I believe is being broadly implied, the spectre of liability wad contributory to this tragic event, then it would behoove the self-styled pundit to apptehend that potential liability for inaction exists as well.
A caregiver refusing to assist a grsvely ill person in their care is reprehensible. There is promissory estoppel implicit in the very presence of a nurse in a care facility.
The grave injustice of this event will more adequately be resolved in a fashion making repetition of similar unlikely by tort action than the mere deliscensure and subsequent dismissal of the nurse.
Nobody likes a lawyer- until they need one.
Arthur, I don’t disagree with much of what you say, but I will tell you that it appears to me that this senior home created and carried out this policy on purely legal/liability grounds. As a practicing lawyer, I find it most disheartening when this kind of extreme legalism completely supplants the human heart and soul.
Knowing that “residents of the home’s independent living community are informed of the “no-CPR” policy and agree to it when they move in”, where does the “personal responsibility” lie?
There isn’t a “no-CPR” policy, there is simply an acknowledgement that it is an active senior center that doesn’t necessarily have medical assistence at all times. In this case there was a nurse right there at the time of the medical crisis. Whatever legal responsibility there was to help this poor woman, there was certainly a “personal responsibility” from a human perspective. If you can’t see that baab, then you are the kind of juror that grants verdicts that create this kind of inhuman policy.
The executive director of Glenwood Gardens would disagree with you, telling KGET-TV that “residents of the home’s independent living community are informed of the “no-CPR” policy and agree to it when they move in” in a written statement.
He went on to describe their policy: “In the event of a health emergency at this independent living community our practice is to immediately call emergency medical personnel for assistance and to wait with the individual needing attention until such personnel arrives,” Toomer said in a written statement. “That is the protocol we followed.”
Is this protocol fair or even “responsible”? I’m not trying to answer that question. I’m questioning why so many people cry for “personal responsibility”, when the responsibility for agreeing to the no-CPR policy began and ended with Lorraine Bayless. Imagine if she had signed a DNR form but then was “saved” by the nursing facility, the EMTs or the hospital? Would you write about it?
I’m sure you know that she was alive and breathing when she left the facility, but died later in the hospital, even if you don’t want to admit that “Bayless’ daughter told KGET-TV she is a nurse and was pleased with her mother’s care.”
baab, this was an inhumane act by a person that was more interested in keeping her job than she was like acting like a human being instead of “following protocol” which frankly sounds a little too close to the Nazi “just following orders” for my tastes. American is becoming a less civilized place and this nurse’s barbaric behavior is just another symptom of that disease.
I’m surprised no conservative has argued that she was a loyal employee protecting her employer from liability insurance companies wouldn’t cover…or the death panel director who didn’t obtain coverage to stave off litigious lawyers if something “happened”.
Money is the root of all of the decisions made in this tragic story. Lawyers surely advised not to obtain insurance and/or wrote the protocol. Shareholders/owners were driven to accept the advice to forego extra insurance. Money and profits rule.
Thanks for exposing more facts to the case, baab. Mr. Willis is “thinking” with his emotions.
When legal ramifications of difficult situations contradict our sense of societal morality, it remains difficult to “prosecute” the same society that condones (demands) this type of cover your ass behavior for profit. If the nurse’s behavior is a symptom, will you also expound upon a broader cause?
If there exists any “true” personal responsibility, wouldn’t we all subscribe to the notion of “shareholder” responsibility as well? If so, wouldn’t we all “invest” in the companies that might lose money to save lives and cure disease?
Until that happens, there will be profit to be made/protected on both illness and death. We as a society are sadly hedging against ourselves, but many, if not most aren’t reading the fine print.
Snoopy – What’s this lack of “extra” insurance you mention? I’d guess the assisted living facility in question is very well insured, and very much for profit.
The formulating of a “different” protocol, say a doctor on staff or alternate instructions to nurses, then insurance needs would be quite different as well.
;Licensed Practical Nurse (learn practically nothing) or Professional Registered Nurse?
There is a helluva lot of difference between those who have completed a certificate in practical nursing and those who have the critical thinking skills needed to pass NCLEX for Registered Nurses.
This “nurse” if she indeed possesses a license to practice will no doubt face revocation of her license.
If this is a licensed nurse…lpn or rn…she is not fit for practice.
Snoop,
Behind every ambulance chaser there is a willing client. No clients = no lawyers.
Ambulance chasers “persuade” the “client” (who wouldn’t be a client were they not chased by a lawyer) with their promises, because lawyers have that entitlement mentality of being owed other people’s money. They “create” a need where there was none. I’m sure there are plenty of lawyers lining up to take this case pro bono. (/sarc)
Uhh, there are ambulance chasers out there, but they are certainly do NOT have the “entitlement mentality.” They are the street hustlers of the world and are often looking for an “edge,” or a way to quick money – they are NOT of the “entitlement mentaility.” Not sure where you are even going with this Snoopy.
What would you say? 47% are entitled and the rest are just good guys scraping out an average middle class income?
I am not even arguing with you Snoopy and this has very little to do with the piece. Can you not control yourself?
Everybody hates a lawyer till they need one. I needed one and I still despise them.
I heard that 911 call on the news and was horrified, but I knew the public only got part of the details–the part that made a sensational story. The victim’s daughter said the facility did the right thing, so I have to believe that we don’t know enough to judge the nurse, no matter how cold and unemotional she sounded. I feel very sorry for the 911 operator. I applaud her calm composure and persistence. She really was a hero in this sad story.
I can’t believe that the people on here are down on the nurse. They should be after thee 911 operator. If you go back and read or listen the patient didn’t need CPR. CPr is used on someone whose heart has stopped not trouble breathing. She most likely Ali e when she was piicked up by the ambulance. What she needed was a doctor to diagnose what was wrong with her and recommend the proper treatment. If the nurse would of done what the 911 operator said it would of most likely stopped her heart. This is the problem with the emergency system they have inexperienced people making lif and death decisions. The phone operatorrs should be EMTS with a few years street Expedia ce not someone who can type so fast and read a card.
This story is very germane to your readers here in the state of Vermont as we are now seeing our legislature contemplate the legalized euthanasia of the old and infirm. This same law has been roundly rejected by state voters all around us but here in Vermont our ‘progressive’ masters do not endow the people with the right to vote on such issues. No referendums for the field animals. We are a socialist model of elitism feathering its own nest as it drives its lower castes into the streets and gutters. We have a long and disgraceful and very well exposed history in Vermont of not protecting the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the infirm. Vermont Legal Aid is suing Vermont’s Department of Adult Protective Services for failing to investigate or act on HUNDREDS of cases going back many years into past gubernatorial administrations. And now, surprise! They want to codify and legalize and formalize EUTHANASIA of this same class of folks. I SAY NO.
I think you meant to say physician-assisted suicide. Big difference.
In response to “Register Nurse”….You have some nerve putting other people down!! First off, my LVN
license/training was proudly obtained through the U.S.
Army. I DO NOT have a certificate. It is a legitimate
diploma. I am trained in critical care, emergency care,
internal medicine, pediatric medical advice, case management/utilization review, and nursing education.
Your assumption that LPN’s, “learn practically nothing”
is completely wrong. We also take the NCLEX as well.
Please educate yourself before you make such rude comments. Just remember…we are all on the same team to provide quality, safe, and compassionate nursing care for all of our patients. I feel this “nurse”,
LPN, RN should have done something for this poor lady. This type of incident should not have happened,
and this “nurse” along with this facility should definitely be investigated. Just a reminder….If you have nothing nice to say, then it is best to say nothing at all. Please get your facts straight. Thank you.
You can’t always blame the lawyers, sometimes we have to blame ourselves. We vote in the law makers. People have become so numb to everything that it’s not our problem that it’s everyone elses. This woman has lost all compassion for her fellow man/woman that unless she is told what to do
she won’t go out of her comfort zone. Can anyone say Hitler! This how Hitler came into power, when the human condition got to be so horrible and people were at their lowest point, he showed them that if they followed him blindly even if it went against what they know was right, he would give them a better life. With the way this country is going we’re headed that way. We are giving our rights and our freedom away everyday.
Godwin’s Law.
All things do not correlate with Hitler/Nazi’s, Sharon, no matte how hard you wish it to be.
You are right that the Nazi reference doesn’t work all of the time, but Sharon is absolutely right in this instance, the cold tone of the uncaring nurse’s voice has great parallels to the “I was only doing my job” line of the Nazis.
As you wish, Goebbels.
Snoopy, you really think that is a helpful, thoughtful post that advances the dialogue, or a snarky personal attack attempting to quell comment or to put yourself on center stage?
Nothing personal, Mr. Willis, but as appropriate as the Hitler references…more so actually with the propaganda and censorship that goes on around here. You attack nearly every post I make with purely personal attacks and punitive rhetoric in hopes I won’t express my opinions here. Your attacks are 2:1 to actually addressing the substance.
You think the Hitler correlation accurate …I say it’s not. Never the twain shall meet. You “win” always…your blog/storyline.
The correlation to Goebbels is quite appropriate as evidenced by your latest baseless personal attack.
The employee was driven by probable punitive actions and following protocol. Blame the protocol/owner, not the employee doing her job as demanded. She avoided liability for herself and the facility and the nature of the home is what it is and the terms are agreed to by all parties. Society demands we follow the rules in all circumstances or pay a penalty, usually life-altering. I agree with the employee doing what was required of her.
I appreciate you making my point “The employee was driven by probable punitive actions and following protocol. Blame the protocol/owner, not the employee doing her job as demanded. She avoided liability for herself and the facility and the nature of the home is what it is and the terms are agreed to by all parties. Society demands we follow the rules in all circumstances or pay a penalty, usually life-altering. I agree with the employee doing what was required of her.” Almost verbatim from transcripts of interviews with German workers interviewed at the concentration camps. Thanks
Godwin’s Law. Thread exhausted. Horse dead. Filters too dark to see.
“Godwin’s law applies especially to inappropriate, inordinate, or hyperbolic comparisons of other situations (or one’s opponent) with Nazis. The law and its corollaries would not apply to discussions covering known mainstays of Nazi Germany such as genocide, eugenics or racial superiority, nor, more debatably, to a discussion of other totalitarian regimes or ideologies, if that was the explicit topic of conversation, since a Nazi comparison in those circumstances may be appropriate, in effect committing the fallacist’s fallacy.” (Fallacy) “While falling foul of Godwin’s law tends to cause the individual making the comparison to lose their argument or credibility, Godwin’s law itself can be abused as a distraction, diversion or even as censorship, fallaciously miscasting an opponent’s argument as hyperbole when the comparisons made by the argument are actually appropriate.” ^ David Weigel, “Hands Off Hitler! It’s time to repeal Godwin’s Law” Reason Magazine, July 14, 2005
Thanks for proving my Goebbels reference to be oh so very accurate.
Justify your use however you wish. I find it a pathetic copout and those who invoke Hitler/Nazi’s to be intellectually bankrupt.
Just my opinion, of course, so attack away in 3…2…1…
Thread dead. You have yet to prove your point so buh bye. Argue with yourself.
. . and yet he always has to have the last word.
“Just my opinion, of course, so attack away in 3…2…1…”
Never one to disappoint, are ya. And yes, you and your ilk think getting the last word is “winning”. I stated my opinion, not to get the last word. But it’s your personal attack that does nothing to further dialogue…so attack any way you like.
. . .
Nothing is absolute, with the debatable exceptions of this statement and death.
–John Ralston Saul
Nature provides exceptions to every rule.
–Margaret Fuller
I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them. I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do.
― Robert A. Heinlein
Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it. ― Henry David Thoreau
Rules and responsibilities: these are the ties that bind us. We do what we do, because of who we are. If we did otherwise, we would not be ourselves. I will do what I have to do. And I will do what I must.
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman: Book of Dreams
You are remembered for the rules you break.
― Douglas MacArthur
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
He doesn’t want you to obey a bunch of rules, He wants your love.― Lacey Mosley
The uneducated person perceives only the individual phenomenon, the partly educated person the rule, and the educated person the exception.–Franz Grillparzer
No rule is so general, which admits not some exception.–Robert Burton
Unfortunately, goodness and honor are rather the exception than the rule among exceptional men, not to speak of geniuses.
–Cesare Lombroso
The attending (or non-attending) nurse should have read the previous post before she decided to become a nurse….