Transfer or Transport?

The adult human heart beats 60-100 times per minute.  The lungs require 12-20 breaths per minute to oxygenate the body. Oxygen saturation should be 95-100% in a healthy person, but when the O₂ sat falls below 85%, the patient is in a state called hypoxia. When the body experiences trauma, sometimes the lungs go from a state of hypoxia to apnea (not breathing), where the air volume in the lungs essentially remains unchanged. When there is no airflow, the body is in respiratory arrest and the brain can only go a few minutes without oxygen before the body fails and ultimately ceases to live.

I watched these physiological processes slowly crawl from full force vital signs to critically unstable hypoxia in a patient, and I transferred her to a higher care hospital for a neuro consult. Upon arrival, in the fastest 3 minutes of life, vitals crashed to apnea and the heart rapidly ceased to beat.

The time frame of death for this person was short due to a legal document called a DNR order that prevents anyone from performing advanced life support for the patient. My job was to transfer this patient to a higher level of care – to bring this life to another physician that would also not have the ability to perform life support for this patient. A physician that would potentially evaluate the neurological condition of the patient, IF the patient survived the transfer. Why? Because the family thought it would be a good idea. The same family that opted to not have this person resuscitated if necessary. So this transfer of facilities was a decision made in an emergency by the family that resulted in a transformed life to a transported body. 

“What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?” - Vincent van Gogh