Performing CPR is different than dealing with a DNR. You do not yet know if the person is dying, or is having a blockage from food, or whatever it could be. As an Administrator of a few Assisted Livings in my career, there has never been such a policy to not have CPR performed on someone who stops breathing. Further, there was a nurse there and on CNN the Executive Director said they had no nursing staff, that it was an Independent Living. No matter what it was, staff are trained in CPR whether they work in Independent, Assisted or Nursing Home. I, myself, was visiting my parents, when they lived in Seattle at their Independent Living, and a woman resident in the dining room keeled over and was not breathing. I immediately performed CPR while waiting for the paramedics and she came back very quickly. It is more than shocking to hear about this neglectful situation and I am sure that the Assisted Living company which manages that property will be under strict investigation by authorities. DNR is an order when someone is at life end or very ill and has made a decision to not want intervention; it does not relate to when someone is eating in the dining room and suddenly stops breathing, particulary if in fact this is an independent living where people are generally healthy and able. You do not leave someone lying on the floor who cannot breathe and stand over them and do nothing.
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