I was running errands last Friday I caught some of Rush Limbaugh on the radio and he was talking about ER of all things. He stated that he normally reads at night and does not watch primetime TV BUT his wife watches ER and he has seen the last five episodes. What moved him to talk about the show was that he could not get over how the doctors flouted the rules on ER and did not repect the patients wishes. A nurse called in to explain some things to him. He kept saying that the patients wishes should be paramount and she kept saying "you're right BUT ..." and then proceeded to list times when she has seen DNRs ignored. Such as if they feel the family did not fully understand what a DNR meant or if two family members disagreed over the DNR and this despite a signed paper from the patient. She ended the conversation by saying that people sue hospitals all the time. Any comments by medical folk or by people who have witnessed such situations?

P.S. Rush just doesn't understand that Carol is a special case (at least to us). He should catch up on reruns on TNT.

-- maryann (map5860@aol.com), May 15, 2000

Answers

I don't know the answer to your question, but I think that it is hilarious that Rush is watching "ER." I am an editor, so it is hard for me to listen to the radio at work, but when I listened to Rush all the time when I was in college. I bet he gets hooked!

-- Katrina (cattrek@ga.freei.net), May 15, 2000.

Sounds like typical Rush speak to me: everything is black and white with no grey in between. It wouldn't matter if he caught up on ER on TNT or not, but maybe a compassion transfusion might help. I didn't even know he still had his radio program; I cheered long and hard when his TV one was cancelled.

-- Diana (dilynne@juno.com), May 15, 2000.

One of the things we learned in EMT class was that if there's ANY DOUBT WHATSOEVER over a DNR, your recussitate the patient. The theory goes that it's better to be sued for keeping someone ALIVE than to be sued for letting someone DIE.

However, I think that most of the cases on ER are not cases of unclear DNRs, they're just instances of the docs blatantly ignoring the rules (I liked one of the review's sarcastic comments about Illegal But Lifesaving Procedure #352), usually without any reprecussions whatsoever. I suppose the writers figure this makes for good drama but I think it's just plain silly.

-- Lynn (lynn@worfsmyth.org), May 15, 2000.