MediRideEMS

I read your posts with interest, but I haven't seen anyone make a connection in relation to the EMS field. I'm not quite sure how it works in other states, but here in Michigan, if we respond to assist a patient and that patient is unresponsive, the law requires us to treat that patient unless there is a signed DNR or living will in place. If the patient's wishes are not documented, we MUST err on the side of treatment, or preservation of that patient's life, regardless of what that patient's spouse or family asserts regarding that patient. The natural assumption is that the patient would want to live. Without written orders or wishes that MUST be the assumption. I think the same rule should have applied for Terri Schiavo. How are we to know what her wishes were. We can't know, therefore, it should've been the court's responsibility to uphold her life.