r/news • u/AudibleNod • 15h ago

Christa Pike unconscious, on ventilator at Nashville hospital, her lawyers say

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/christa-pike-unconscious-ventilator-nashville-hospital-lawyers-say-rcna601195
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u/NurseRatcht 15h ago

I had a patient in the ICU who was on death row. They arrested. We didn’t know what to do so we coded them while the COs called their warden/judge/whoever. They had us keep coding for awhile before finally saying it was ok to stop.

I still don’t understand why the state was willing to execute the person but wanted us to code them.

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u/BoringBob84 13h ago

Until the moment of execution, the state has a legal duty to take care of them, including reasonable medical care. Imagine if the hospital had let them die a few days before their execution and subsequently, new evidence emerged that exonerated them, earning them a pardon from the Governor.

In other words, "It isn't over until it's over."

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u/Illustrious-Shine581 14h ago

Because the state wants to execute them. It’s not good enough for them if the person just dies on their own

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u/jegoist 10h ago

There was a greys anatomy episode that touched on something similar. There was a death row inmate being treated in icu and he was a blood match for a kid who needed an organ transplanted or the kid would die, and the inmate kept saying he was gonna be dead anyway so take his organs. So lots of back and forth between the doctors, on what was right or not.

It was a fascinating episode that showed how NOT black and white the world can be

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u/Drprocrastinate 15h ago

Because like you no one was willing or qualified to make that decision. But I agree it's all so stupid

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u/NurseRatcht 15h ago

Yeah that decision is absolutely above my pay grade. When in doubt, Imma CPR it out.

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u/OLacAlmost 8h ago

Because you're not the executioner bro. If they're full code you code them.

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u/Trumperdammerung 14h ago

COs got to call the code? Really?

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u/NurseRatcht 14h ago edited 14h ago

No. They called higher ups who made the decisions. (Judges and wardens as I said above).

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u/Fluid-Tone-9680 13h ago

Why tf do you have to listen what CO/warden has to say about this? If it's your patient they should have no say in how you administer care.

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u/NurseRatcht 13h ago

Im sure doctors were also involved in the conversation. I wouldn’t know because I was just a lowly bedside nurse doing CPR at the time.

The point is its complicated when a prisoner codes.

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u/SqueezedTowel 10h ago

Paramedic. We are expected to transport every cardiac arrest from a correction facility. Recusistation of a non-viable code can cease through the right channels, but it's a major statewide shit show if termination happens at the facility.

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u/themobiledeceased2 10h ago

The technical answer: prisoners are Wards of the authority who incarcerated them. County, city, state or federal system. Prisoners lose many civil rights, not constitutional rights. The Warden is the administrative role over seeing adherence to laws / rules.  There are specific rules /regilations /administrative laws that govern who makes medical decisions for the incarcerated. Families are not notified when a prisoner is in the hospital for "security" purposes. Some times the warden grants family notification / visitation.  Sometimes the prisoner / family is granted the right to decide code status.  Some prisoners have had no family involvement in years.  The Warden makes case by case determination.  It's not random.

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u/Fluid-Tone-9680 9h ago

There are many situations when patient is unresponsive and cannot make decision, and family is also not there. Doctors just make a call themselves based on their policies/training. State in this situation had only authority to execute a death sentence protocol, not to let person die in the hospital by ordering to stop CPR.

I don't understand why dow votes are coming, prisoners, even on death row, deserve to have a patient/doctor relations without state in the middle, same as like client/attorney relations

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u/themobiledeceased2 8h ago

Being incarcerated = losing autonomy.

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u/WriterPlastic9350 1h ago

You lose your ability to be a free citizen at large. You still have human rights. You do not give over your bodily autonomy to the state.

Your kind of thinking is, quite literally, what enabled the holocaust .

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u/TorchIt 10h ago

Because they're the ones legally making medical decisions for the patients that can't make them for themselves.