Say a fentanyl user has a highly visible \u201cDo Not Resuscitate\u201d on their person (tattoo, T-shirt, necklace, whatever), and this user is found unconscious in public. Would potential Narcan-appliers be compelled to stand down? If Narcan was used to revive said user, could the reviver be sued or otherwise held liable? <\/b>\u2014Dean R.<\/b><\/p>\n
I don\u2019t mean to go all Professor Snape on you, Dean, but your question seems to betray a pretty spotty understanding of both do-not-resuscitate orders and narcotic-antagonist treatments. (Also, your \u201cstrength potion\u201d seems to have caused your friend Longbottom here to grow antlers.)<\/p>\n
In any case, the answer to both of your questions is probably no. For starters, as a legal matter, \u201cDo Not Resuscitate\u201d does not mean \u201cDo not provide lifesaving care of any kind,\u201d it only means \u201cDo not administer CPR.\u201d And CPR\u2014as I\u2019m sure we all remember from that three-day unit we had in health class in 1989\u2014is only indicated in cases where the patient isn\u2019t breathing and has no heartbeat, a state that less-enlightened generations used to refer to as \u201cdead.\u201d <\/p>\n
That\u2019s the point of a DNR. A sufferer who\u2019s successfully departed this vale of tears has the right (if they so choose) not to be dragged kicking and screaming back into it with chest compressions, electric shocks, and breathing tubes. However, that\u2019s not the case in your scenario. Narcan requires circulating blood to work, so if the victim is dead enough for a DNR to kick in, they should be too dead for Narcan to save them. <\/p>\n
Granted, things in real life aren\u2019t always so clear-cut. One can imagine edge cases where CPR and Narcan together might bring a deceased opioid victim back around. Also, in practice, doctors may use a subject\u2019s DNR as a proxy for how aggressively to pursue invasive, last-gasp treatment options in general. Luckily, you don\u2019t need to worry about any of that, for one very important reason: You\u2019re not a medical professional, and thus are not bound by legal and ethical standards like honoring someone\u2019s DNR order.<\/p>\n
So relax, guy! Under modern Good Samaritan laws, not only will you not be sued for administering Narcan to a fallen addict, you\u2019ll probably be held harmless even if you perform CPR on someone with \u201cDo Not Resuscitate\u201d written across their chest in 2-inch-high neon. For a hospital, something like that could mean a seven-figure \u201cwrongful prolongation of life\u201d judgment, but for a regular schmuck like you? Ten points to Gryffindor!<\/p>\n