In 2020, there was evidence that Britain’s National Health System (NHS), under pressure from the extra demands of COVID-19, began pushing “Do Not Resuscitate” (DNR) orders upon the elderly, and also upon adults with disabilities. The U.K.’s Care Quality Commision reported in March 2021, that the NHS had restricted the ability of patients to question the assignment of the DNR status, and/or denied challenges to their DNR decisions. They found, among other things, that hundreds of elderly care home residents were illegally designated DNR.
On Dec. 26, in an article in the Daily Telegraph, headlined, “Children with Learning Disabilities Offered ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ Orders,” examples of similar NHS tactics are given, but now being insinuated among youth. They include examples of families of children with autism and other learning disabilities being routinely offered DNR status. In one case, a 16-year-old boy with Down’s syndrome, during a routine checkup, was listed for DNR. His mother, when she found out, was horrified, saying that he was a happy, healthy youngster, and even winning gold medals in swimming.
