Doctors asking patients to consider Do Not Resuscitate orders say Scottish ministers asked for the calls

Doctors asking patients to consider Do Not Resuscitate orders say Scottish ministers asked for the calls.

We told last week how a 65-year-old former miner had been cold-called by a GP he had never met and asked to consider signing a DNR order.

Now Phillip Siviter, 58, from Wick, who has kidney failure and chronic obstructive pulminary disease, has revealed he received a call from his GP asking about DNR, and was then asked the same question during a visit to hospital for dialysis.

He said: “It’s left me feeling very distrustful of an NHS that I used to trust implicitly.”

Mum-of-four Rowan Moloney, 38, was asked twice to agree to a Do Not Resuscitate notice in two phone calls just hours apart.

But Rowan, who suffers from asthma, said: “It’s deeply distressing to get one call like that out of the blue – to get two is unacceptable.”

Dr Ewen Pearson, from the Pearson Medical Practice, said: “I can confirm that Mr Siviter got a call from us with regard to his future wishes and an Anticipatory Care Plan (which includes a DNR discussion) due to the current pandemic. This is in keeping with NHS Highland and Scottish Government guidance for patients deemed to be in high risk groups.

“To be clear we were not asking him to agree to DNR but to consider this.”

Amanda Jenkins, practice manager of the Ellon Group Practice, has apologised and said in reply to Rowan’s complaint: “GP practices are following government and NHS directives.”

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “We have been clear that no one should ever feel pressured in any way whatsoever into giving their consent to a Do Not Attempt CPR form.”