“…when the orders are reworded to say “allow natural death,” patients and family members and even medical professionals are much more likely to give their consent…”

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It seems that getting end-of-life patients and their families to endorse “do not resuscitate” orders has been challenging. To many ears, “D.N.R.” sounds a little too much like throwing Grandpa under the bus. But according to a paper in The Journal of Medical Ethics, when the orders are reworded to say “allow natural death”, patients and family members and even medical professionals are much more likely to give their consent to what amounts to exactly the same protocols.

Michael Pollan, “Altered States”, The New York Times Magazine (3 May 2015), 16.

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