Do Not Attempt Resuscitation Order

Since 1974, when the first policies about ‘do not attempt resuscitation ’ orders were published [1], the decision not to resuscitate patients in cardiac arrest has been a controversial issue in medical practice. For this reason, the ‘do not attempt resuscitation ’ order is, perhaps, the directive and the decision to with-hold medical treatment with the widest bibliography. In this review, in accor-dance with the 2000 Guidelines for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation [2], I will use the term ‘do not attempt resuscitation (DNAR) ’ instead of the more pop-ular ‘do not resuscitate (DNR)’. The first sentence indicates more clearly the decision to take, because the success of a resuscitation is not always guaran-teed. In the practice of resuscitation, it has been accepted for many years that when a person has suffered a sudden cardiac arrest, resuscitation manoeuvres should always be started ‘except in narrowly defined circumstances ’ [3]. This concept has not changed in the current guidelines [2, 4]. This concept is unique in the practice of medicine, and it is based on the facts that it is a