Marc Cornock: Current regulations force nurses to attempt futile CPR

The NMC should act to ally nurses fears that they can be reprimanded for not attempting to resuscitate a patient who is clearly dead, says legal expert Marc Cornock

There have been two separate cases recently of nurses in care homes being reprimanded by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for not attempting to resuscitate patients they thought had died.

In both cases the resident had no ‘do not attempt resuscitation’ (DNAR) notice in place, the nurse failed to call the emergency services and the nurse was not qualified to verify death.

NMC conduct and competence committees subsequently found the fitness to practise of both nurses to be impaired by reason of misconduct, and imposed a sanction on each nurse. Neither nurse fought the case