Monday Morning News Roundup [html]CPS suspends 2 after incident Sun Times
Calvin Davis, director of sports administration for the Chicago Public Schools, said Thursday that contrary to a published report, only two players -- Young's D'Frantz Smart and Clark's Dorthia Hayes -- would receive one-game suspensions in the aftermath of a disturbance during a girls basketball game earlier this week. Kids' Do Not Resuscitate orders prompt debateChicago Tribune
Officials find themselves in the unusual position of having planned the steps a staff will, or won't, take to permit a child to die on school grounds. As jobs move to suburbs, the poor are following Medill Reports
The widening gap between rich and poor in America is increasingly visible in an unlikely place: the suburbs. Winning nothing new to Marshall under new coach Tribune
A new era in Marshall basketball began with a rousing start Saturday at the Chicago Public Schools Holiday Shootout at Chicago State.[/html]
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Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 4:26 PM
Re: Do not resuscitate orders and schools
I thought that Jeff Long's Tribune article was very well done. Because we here at Access Living deal with real families that have in some cases children who are extremely disabled we have had to talk with families about this issue and know how profound of an issue it is. We also think that the Chicago Public Schools deserve some praise for refusing to honor DNR orders for children unless specifically ordered by a court to do so, which does not often happen. The Illinois State Board of Education has not provided school districts with any directive in relationship as to the application of the Illinois Department of Public Health's (IDPH) Uniform Do not Resuscitate Advance Directives to students. Every school district in our state is on their own on this issue and that is wrong.
In the State of Indiana its State Board has directed districts not to implement DNR orders because schools are not medical settings. IDPH indicates that DNR advanced directives are applicable only to hospitals, long term care facilities, and licensed emergency medical service personnel. School nurses and school staff are not required in Illinois to honor a DNR advanced directive. Federal Law requires only that a person be told of their right to make an advanced directive DNR order when entering a health care facility not schools.
We at Access Living do not support the right of parents to have special education staff including nurses honor DNR orders for students with disabilities no matter how disabled the students are or near death that they appear to be. Schools are about educating students and they are not medical facilities subject to laws designed for those facilities and emergency medical service personnel.
Some students with disabilities who can be fed, but not feed themselves, often also have choking experiences and for special education staff including nurses to not take every possible action to prevent death in such a situation because of a DNR order is simply impossible to accept. Most of the special education staff that I have known over the years that work with medically fragile children or children with profound disabilities would be personally traumatized by carrying out such an order. I found it very hard to accept the comments in the article by the nursing coordinator for the Lake County Special Education District indicating they would provide love and comfort for a child with a DNR order but not try to save her. What if the nurse on duty at the school does not ethically accept implementing DNR orders and is aware that the IDPH DNR rules do not clearly apply to schools? Does the Lake County Special Ed District discipline the nurse for violating the order?
Rod Estvan
Access Living
In the State of Indiana its State Board has directed districts not to implement DNR orders because schools are not medical settings. IDPH indicates that DNR advanced directives are applicable only to hospitals, long term care facilities, and licensed emergency medical service personnel. School nurses and school staff are not required in Illinois to honor a DNR advanced directive. Federal Law requires only that a person be told of their right to make an advanced directive DNR order when entering a health care facility not schools.
We at Access Living do not support the right of parents to have special education staff including nurses honor DNR orders for students with disabilities no matter how disabled the students are or near death that they appear to be. Schools are about educating students and they are not medical facilities subject to laws designed for those facilities and emergency medical service personnel.
Some students with disabilities who can be fed, but not feed themselves, often also have choking experiences and for special education staff including nurses to not take every possible action to prevent death in such a situation because of a DNR order is simply impossible to accept. Most of the special education staff that I have known over the years that work with medically fragile children or children with profound disabilities would be personally traumatized by carrying out such an order. I found it very hard to accept the comments in the article by the nursing coordinator for the Lake County Special Education District indicating they would provide love and comfort for a child with a DNR order but not try to save her. What if the nurse on duty at the school does not ethically accept implementing DNR orders and is aware that the IDPH DNR rules do not clearly apply to schools? Does the Lake County Special Ed District discipline the nurse for violating the order?
Rod Estvan
Access Living
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