Paramedics brought a 70-year-old man to the University of Miami hospital emergency room after finding him on the street, intoxicated and unconscious. Doctors tried to revive him got no response. Then they had an unusual problem: The man had a ‘Do not resuscitate’ tattoo on his chest, with a line under the ‘not.’ There was also something that looked like his signature. Tattoos are not legally-binding DNR orders, and in Florida, there are very specific requirements for DNRs. to be legal. Both a doctor and the patient must sign it, and they must be on paper, not on chests.
The doctors decided to respect the man’s tattoo. They did not try to revive him after the initial efforts failed
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