Muscat: Dr Ahmed al Saidi, Minister of Health, has passed a resolution on the regulation of ‘Patient resuscitation controls’. The regulation deals with the CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) procedure for patients and cases in which a decision can be taken to perform resuscitation or not.
Among the most important things in the list that is included in an article states, "the medical team is prohibited from doing anything that would end the patient's life to alleviate his suffering, or at his request, or the request of his relatives, in contradiction to what this regulation stipulated."
The regulation requires the medical team to apply CPR procedure on a patient to keep him alive based on his health condition requires as per the clinical assessment and known scientific procedures and technical principles.
However, it is permissible not to initiate CPR following the terms and procedures that include: cases where cardiopulmonary resuscitation is ineffective in maintaining heart function and breathing appropriately; or lack of positive changes in the patient’s condition or future of his illness; like if the patient was in the final stages of heart failure, liver, or lungs with no possibility of organ transplantation, or has multiple organ failure syndromes in terminally ill conditions.
Yet, the medical team is free to inform the terminally ill patient, according to his health condition, about the ineffectiveness of CPR, and in this case, the patient may express in writing or orally his desire not to perform CPR.
The regulation laid down many conditions and procedures necessary for taking a decision ‘not to initiate cardiopulmonary resuscitation’ based on the clinical assessment of the patient's health in terms of the development of his health condition, and his ability to recover, besides an assessment of the impacts of CPR on a patient in case of conducting it and the suffering and pain that ensues.
The patient is allowed to request that no cardiopulmonary resuscitation be performed on him. At the same time, it obligated the medical team in this case to maintain the confidentiality of the patient's decision not to initiate cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the event the patient desires not to inform his relatives, provided that this is documented in the patient's medical file after taking his signature.
In the event of a disagreement between a patient with eligibility who has previously expressed in writing or orally about his unwillingness to not perform CPR and his or her relatives, in this case, the patient's desire is considered and approved.
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