The aim of this paper is to convey the usefulness of an ethnographic approach in understanding the clinical practice of Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). One of the study findings, concerning the interplay of politics, power relationships and commerce around CPR practice, is used to demonstrate, albeit briefly, how current CPR policy has been driven by perceptions of risk.
Alaszewski, A , Harvey I. (2001) Health technology and knowledge. In: Davey, B. , Gray, A. , Harvey, I. , Seale, C. (eds) Health and Disease: a Reader (3rd edition). Buckingham: Open University Press .
2.
Allan, D. (2004) Ethnomethodological insights into insider–outsider relationships in nursing ethnographies of healthcare settings . Nursing Inquiry1111:1, 14–24 .
3.
Amarasingham Rhodes, L. (1996) Studying biomedicine as a cultural system. In: Sargent, C.F. , Johnson, T.M. (eds) Medical Anthropology: Contemporary Theory and Method(revised edition). Connecticut: Praeger .
4.
Bauman, Z. (1998) Post-modern adventures of life and death. In: Scrambler, G. , Higgs, P. (eds) Modernity, Medicine and Health. London: Routledge .
5.
Charmaz, K. (2004) Premises, principles and practices in qualitative research: revisiting the foundations . Qualitative Health Research1144:7 (September): 976–993 .
6.
Department of Health (2001) Building a Safer NHS for Patients: Implementing an Organisation with a Memory. London: Department of Health (The Stationery Office).
7.
Dingwall, R. (1994) Litigation and the threat to medicine. In: Gabe, J. , Kelleher, D. , Williams, G. (eds) Challenging Medicine. London: Routledge .
8.
Editorial (2004) This difficult but wise decision should not diminish respect for parents' rights . The Independent,8 October.
9.
Eisenberg, L. (1997) Disease and illness . Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry1: 9–23 .
10.
Ellen, R.F. (ed.) (1984) Ethnographic Research: a Guide to General Conduct (Research Methods in Social Anthropology 1). London: Academic Press .
11.
Hallam, E. , Hockey, J. , Howarth, G. (1999) Beyond the Body–Death and Social Identity. London: Routledge .
12.
Hockey, J. (2001) Changing death rituals. In: Hockey, J. , Katz, J. , Small, N. (eds) Grief, Mourning and Death Ritual. Buckingham: Open University Press .
13.
Jones, G. (2004) Chaos as ‘living will’ law is pushed through . Daily Telegraph, 15 December, 1.
14.
Lawson, A. (2004) We have a moral duty to die on time (Letter) . Daily Telegraph 16 December, 23.
15.
Lawton, J. (2003) Lay experiences of health and illness: past research and future agendas. Sociology of Health and Illness, Silver Anniversary Issue 25.
16.
Lock, M. (2002) Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and the Reinvention of Death. Berkeley: University of California Press .
17.
McNamara, B. (2001) Fragile Lives: Death, Dying and Care. Buckingham: Open University Press .
18.
Mays, N. , Pope, C. (1996) Qualitative Research in Health Care. London: British Medical Journal Publishing Group .
19.
Page, S. (2004) Never say die — a study of crdiopulmonary resuscitation and the National Health Service: an ethnographic enquiry. Unpublished PhD thesis. Brunel University, Middlesex. UK.
20.
Roberstson, C. (2001) Resuscitation and the blue horizon . Resuscitation5500: 7–8 .
21.
Royal College of Physicians (1987) Resuscitation from a cardiopulmonary arrest: training and Organisation . Journal of the Royal College of Physicians2211: 3-3 .
22.
Tercier, J. (2002) The lips of the dead and the ‘Kiss of Life’: the contemporary deathbed scene and the aesthetic of CPR . Journal of Historical Sociology1155:3, 283–327 .
23.
Timmermans, S. (1998) Resuscitation technology in the emergency department: towards a dignified death . Sociology of Health and Illness2200:2, 144–167 .
24.
Timmermans, S. (2003) The cause of death vs. the gift of life: boundary maintenance and the politics of expertise in death investigation. In: Timmermans, S. , Gabe, J. (eds) Partners in Health, Partners in Crime. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
25.
Vanpee, D. (2004) Scale of levels of care versus DNR orders.
26.
Swine, C.Journal of Medical Ethics. 3300: 351–352 .
27.
Williams, S.J. (2003) Medicine and the Body. London: Sage .