Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is now routinely performed on any hospitalized patients
who suffer cardiac or respiratory arrest. Children with irreversible or progressive terminal illness may
benefit temporarily from CPR, only to deteriorate later on. Painful and invasive procedures may be
performed unnecessarily and the child could be left in a worse condition. A "do not resuscitate" (DNR)
order indicates that the treating team has decided not to have CPR attempted in the event of cardiac or
pulmonary arrest. In this chapter, various aspects related to the DNR decision making in children will be
discussed and summary of the published guidelines by the Royal College of Pediatrics & Child Health and
the American Academy of Pediatrics will be presented.
Keywords: DNR, Resusitation, Brain death, EEG, Isotope scan, Conciousness, Unresponsiveness,
Vegetative, MRI, Ventillation.