Remember, The SS Were Just Following Protocols

I first caught this story over at Ace's:

California Nursing Home Permits 87-Year-Old Woman To Die Rather Than Render Simple CPR,Because It's Their "Policy"

California retirement home is backing one of its nurses after she refused desperate pleas from a 911 operator to perform CPR on an elderly woman who later died, saying the nurse was following the facility's policy.

Oh, it's your policy? I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was your policy. Certainly if you have a "policy" you are justified in permitting a woman under your care to die without taking any action to help her at all.

The nursing home defended the inaction, claiming it was a "policy" that nurses should only call 911 and otherwise render no aid themselves.

Seriously, WTF? Are our lives reduced purely to policy?

This would be a different story if the woman had a living will or a DNR providing instructions to take no action. I sure as hell don't want to spend my remaining days as a ventilated vegetable, draining the soul and resources of my loved ones. Seriously, I don't and I've drawn the paperwork and left specific instructions with Tulip to cover such. There's a key difference between following a patient's wishes and negligent homicide.

Apparently, there was no such set of instructions for the victim beyond the policy of the independent living facility:

No CPR nurse spawns outrage, criminal investigation

Unlike nursing homes, which provide medical care, independent living facilities generally do not.

"These are like apartments for seniors. You're basically living on your own. They may have some services provided by basic nursing staff, but it's not their responsibility to care for the individual," said Dr. Susan Leonard, a geriatrics expert at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Residents of independent living communities can still take care of themselves, but may need help getting to doctor's appointments. In skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes, many residents require around-the-clock care.

Staff members are "required to perform and provide CPR" unless there's a do-not-resuscitate order, said Greg Crist, a senior vice president at the American Health Care Association.

Bayless did not have such an order on file at the facility, said Battalion Chief Anthony Galagaza of the Bakersfield Fire Department, which was the first on the scene. That's when firefighters immediately began CPR, continuing until she reached the hospital.

Huh, such lack of decency and common sense sounds a little familiar:

Father hits out at safety rules that made fireman leave his son to drown in 3ft of water

Or,

Alameda police, firefighters watch as man drowns