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Collected Item: “DNR - A Death Sentence”

Give your story a title.

DNR - A Death Sentence

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

Screenshot

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

My sisters are nurses on the COVID unit at St. Josephs Hospital and they are starting to see a lot more of these signs popping up. So many in fact that they are having to make their own because so many patients have received 'Do Not Resuscitate' orders. For those who don't know, this is an order caretakers follow when a patient is excluded from basic recovery care when their heart stops or they stop breathing. On the COVID unit, patients and families are facing their own mortality through this decision. This order has become more common during this pandemic because of how easily it is transmitted. Sometimes the order is requested by the patient but recently the decision has fallen on the doctors in charge. Visitors aren't allowed and ventilated patients can't provide input. The news is often broken to the families through a phone call or, if your lucky, a Zoom call. These orders are put in place when someone is nearing the end of their fight with COVID, to prevent the transmission of the virus to the nursing staff. This is a screenshot from my sisters Instagram showing an example of a hand made sign on her unit.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#COVID-19, #Pandemic, #hospital, #nurse, #virus, #Arizona

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Marissa Lopez

Give this story a date.

2020-07-10
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