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Hong Kong paramedics to use rescue-first rule under end-of-life law
The Fire Services Department says officers must verify a physical DNACPR order on scene, otherwise they will provide life-saving measures, when the law takes effect next Friday.
Hong Kong’s Fire Services Department said paramedics will follow an “if in doubt, rescue first” approach when deciding whether to resuscitate patients under the city’s new end-of-life directives law, which takes effect next Friday, according to SCMP Economy.
Assistant Chief Ambulance Officer Gary Tong Sze-ho said rescuers must check a physical copy of a do-not-attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or DNACPR, order before they can withhold specified life-sustaining treatments.
He added that if the document cannot be verified on-site, paramedics will carry out life-saving measures based on the rescue-first principle.
Under the legislation, residents can set out which life-sustaining treatments they want to refuse in defined future circumstances, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and they can obtain DNACPR orders instructing rescuers not to perform CPR in out-of-hospital settings, with officers also required to verify validity and applicability before bringing an unconscious patient to hospital while offering other appropriate care.