Friday, March 8, 2013

Police: No charges for nurse who wouldn't do CPR

By Lisa Flam, NBC News contributor

Criminal charges will not be filed against anyone involved in the case of an elderly California woman who collapsed at a retirement home and later died after a nurse refused a 911 dispatcher?s pleas to perform CPR, police in Bakersfield, Calif., said Wednesday.

Lorraine Bayless fell unconscious and was barely breathing at the Glenwood Gardens independent living facility on Feb. 26, prompting staff to call for help. In a dramatic 911 call released earlier this week, an unidentified nurse cites a company policy that prohibited her from performing the potentially life-saving technique, and the 87-year-old woman was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Police launched an investigation on Monday to see if elder abuse laws had been broken, but the department said on Wednesday that it had concluded its probe and will not be filing charges.

?The investigation revealed that no criminal statutes had been violated,? the Bakersfield Police Department said in a statement Wednesday night.?

While Bayless? daughter reportedly said she was satisfied with her mother?s case, the death raised questions about the retirement home?s policy and whether the nurse had an ethical obligation to help.

Related stories:?

Policy questioned after nurse refuses to do CPR

Opinion: Ethics required medical staff to do CPR, even if policy didn't

Source: http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/06/17214617-police-no-charges-against-nurse-who-refused-to-do-cpr?lite

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