A reasoned argument for the demise of the “do not resuscitate” order

In a recent article, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Truog and Burns provided an important overview of the 40-year history of the do not resuscitate (DNR) order. Rarely in the history of medicine have three simple letters ‘DNR’ evoked such controversy. Indeed, this acronym has been the epicenter of numerous legal disputes, a source of great distrust in medicine, and been associated with eliciting great moral distress and strong emotions from not only health care professionals but patients and families alike (1)