Family Presence During CPR: Thumbs Up or Down?

Presence of family members during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is controversial. Investigators in France randomized 15 prehospital teams responding to cardiac arrests in homes to either provide usual care or explicitly offer adult family members to be present in the room during resuscitation; teams in the latter group were given a script for the invitation and announcement of death.

Teams filled out questionnaires after each resuscitation. Ninety days after the event, a psychologist blinded to randomization interviewed a single first-degree relative by phone using two standardized instruments measuring stress, anxiety, and depression. The primary endpoint was the proportion of family members with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)–…