THE daughter of a 90-year-old man who was resuscitated because paramedics did not know he wanted to be allowed to die peacefully has welcomed an initiative.

It is hoped the Deciding Right project will ensure such incidents will never happen again.

The initiative was welcomed by Irene Young, daughter of the late Ralph Forster, who said her father “suffered unnecessary indignities”

at the end of his life.

She said she hoped the initiative would mean that other families would not go through the same trauma.

Deciding Right is the UK’s first attempt to provide a single document that will be recognised by all health and social care staff to ensure a patient’s wishes are followed at the end of life.

Developed by doctors, nurses, carers and patients, Deciding Right is being introduced across the North-East NHS, care homes and hospices.

Mr Forster was living in a care home in Newcastle and had said he did not want to be readmitted to hospital or be resuscitated if he became seriously ill.

However, when he become breathless and collapsed, staff called an ambulance.

Because Mr Forster’s wishes were not written down in a suitable format, the paramedics had no choice but to resuscitate him and admit him to hospital, where he died soon after arriving.

His daughter, Irene Young, said: “My father was a dignified, 90-year-old gentleman who suffered unnecessary indignities and trauma at the end of his life.

“He had already made decisions regarding his preferences for end-of-life care and I feel saddened and desperately disappointed that his wishes were not followed.”

She said she hoped the initiative will “greatly reduce the risk of any other families and their loved onces having to experience upset and distress caused by ill thought through actions and poor communication by those he trusted to act in his best interests”.