A young person is brought into the Emergency Dpeartment having tried to take their own life. Mum is not with them. It quickly becomes clear that the young person will not be resuscitated successfully. The team have a dilemma, do they continue doing CPR waiting for mum to arrive knowing that the outcome will still be the same? Parents who are present at the time of death (stopping CPR) seem to have a less traumatic grieving journey. Or are we just prolonging the inevitable potentially against the young persons wishes?
It is proposed that emergency departments should continue CPR until next of kin are present to say goodbye and be part of the decision