DNR (Do Not Resuscitate).
A DNR is a medical order that tells clinicians not to attempt CPR if your parent's heart or breathing stops.
A DNR only addresses one thing: resuscitation at the moment the heart or breathing stops. It does not mean stopping other care. Your parent can have a DNR and still get antibiotics, pain relief, oxygen, and every comfort treatment.
It has to be a signed medical order to be honored, not just a wish written down at home. Depending on the state and setting, it may be a hospital order, a wallet card, or part of a POLST form.
This is a decision worth talking through with your parent and their doctor while your parent can still weigh in, rather than in a crisis. A healthcare proxy or POLST can carry the same choice forward if your parent cannot speak for themselves.
Related terms
Where Kinbase fits
Terms like this one show up in real weeks, in a discharge folder or a doctor’s offhand remark. Kinbase gives your family one place to keep what you learn about your parent’s care, so the next person helping is not starting from scratch.
Start your family’s record.
Name the book, invite the people who help, and the record starts keeping itself. Most families are set up inside ten minutes.
Free for families to start. Everyone you invite joins from a link or by scanning a code, and nobody has to install anything to read or write.