Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Jan;34(1):2-6.
doi: 10.1136/jme.2006.018317.

"Allow natural death" versus "do not resuscitate": three words that can change a life

S S Venneman  1 , P Narnor-Harris, M Perish, M Hamilton
Affiliations

"Allow natural death" versus "do not resuscitate": three words that can change a life

S S Venneman et al. J Med Ethics. 2008 Jan.

Abstract

Physician-written "do not resuscitate" DNR orders elicit negative reactions from stakeholders that may decrease appropriate end-of-life care. The semantic significance of the phrase has led to a proposed replacement of DNR with "allow natural death" (AND). Prior to this investigation, no scientific papers address the impact of such a change. Our results support this proposition due to increased likelihood of endorsement with the term AND.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in