ABSTRACT
Brenda Hewitt was admitted to the kidney ward on March 28, 1984, at about 3:40 p.m. Within approximately ninety minutes of her admission she suffered what appeared to be a respiratory arrest. During the course or her resuscitation, a man entered the ICU and told the medical staff they should cease all resuscitation efforts. Somewhere between 8:30 and 9 a.m. on March 29 the administrator-on-call contacted Patient Services to advise them of the events of the previous evening regarding the admission and resuscitation of Ms. Hewitt. The patient representative arrived on the ward and first met with the patient's friend, Prof. Schucking. The patient representative learned from Prof. Schucking that he had been Ms. Hewitt's companion for many years, that she was an end-stage renal disease patient, and that she had strong feelings about "no extraordinary measures".
