If you’re about to have surgery, there’s one thing you must do before you go under the knife. Failure to do this could quadruple your risk of dying during surgery.
And, no, it doesn’t require you to find a better doctor, take any supplements, or avoid certain pills.
All it requires is the stroke of a pen. Here’s what you should do.
If you have a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order in place, make sure you rescind it before surgery.
You read that right – find a pen and rescind it. Why?
When I first started researching this, I found an interesting Harvard Medical School study that discovered something shocking. The study found that surgical patients with DNR orders had double the death rate of patients in similar circumstances who did not have DNR orders.
I thought, “That’s impossible!” So I looked into a little more and found not only is it possible, it’s even worse!
What I found was a large, comprehensive study of 12,000 people. This study controlled for other variables. And it specifically looked at people over 65.
What it found is that having a DNR quadruples your risk of dying during surgery.
You read that right! If you’re over 65 years old, you’re more than 4 times as likely to die during surgery if you have a DNR in place.
The reason is quite simple. If you have a DNR in place, even if it specifies certain exceptions, surgeons are less likely to perform life-prolonging treatments for fear of being sued.
So if you want the best possible outcome from surgery, make sure you do NOT have a DNR in place before you have the surgery. It could save your life.