The latest sign of the disregard and contempt that the elderly are treated with in this country is brought to light in an article in The British Medical journal advising care and Nursing homes to instigate a Do Not Resuscitate policy.
According to the BMJ " The procedure rarely succeeds and the resources would be better spent on improving care in other areas" Another example of the Medical proffesions ageism views or a practical answer to funding shortfalls in carehomes and hospitals?
There has already been a protest over ageism being shown in hospitals where five years ago it was discovered that they were practising DNR without prior consultation with patients or thier families. This led to the drawing up of new guidelines whereby both the patient and family were able to discuss whether or not they wished to be resuscitated.
Apparently this new policy would issue Care/Nursing homes with documents outlining the risks of resuscitation on elderly patients and any patients that opted to have resuscitation it is then down to the medic attending the scene to decide whether or not to issue a DNR.
Jonathen Ellis policy manager for Help The Aged said " It is unethical to propose that there should be blanket removal of resuscitation protocols simply because 'they might not work' these arguments would not be used if the discussion were about a different age group"

There is already controversy surrounding the level of 'Care' given to many elderly residents in some homes. Reports of residents ' Starving' and being treated inhumanely seem to be a common occurence in the media. Not all homes are like this but the simple fact is NONE should be. These are peoples mums and dads,aunties and uncles,Granmas and Grandads. They have rights the same as anyone of us.
Why should they lose the right to decent care and ultmately to life simply because they are old??