I have just heard in the news that an 87-year old woman staying at a living facility in California died after a nurse refused to administer CPR despite instructions from the 911 dispatcher. The nurse argued that it was company policy not to perform CPR. It seems like the case has irked the Assisted Living Federation of America.

Surely there was policy in place that prevented her from doing CPR. If not, wouldn't that be a form of murder? If the woman had a DNR in her file, then the nurse was not allowed to perform CPR. I hope something positive will come to light on this case.

That does sound very sad and could anger a lot of people. But, like was mentioned, did she have a DNR? Something that will come out during the investigation I'm sure.

I read that the family has no plans to sue. They say that the senior would have wanted to die naturally and without the aid of life-prolonging measures; however, officials at the facility claim that the resident didn't have a DNR order, and that their employee seemed to have misunderstood the company policy.

To avoid issues like this in the future. The assisted living facility should always make sure that they verbally mention their important policies to the resident or resident's family. Just like the "NO CPR" policy of Brookdale Assisted Living.

While it's true that it's in the contract, which the senior or the senior's family are required to sign, they should make it a point to verbally mention it. How can the senior (or the family member) read everything in the contract when they are already under the stress in moving?

I completely agree savvyman. They should verbalize certain policies to the residents and their families when they move in. Like you said, even though it is written in the contract, there is no guarantee that people read every single word and absorb every single policy under that stress. Verbalizing and emphasizing certain aspects of their policies will help everyone understand on a better level.