I'll never forget the gentleman in the first bed on the right. H'ed been a cantakerous old git during his visit, and he decided that he was going to walk off the ward for a cigarette. I don't know how long the walk to the main entrance took him as it's a good 150 meter walk. He was 85 (but looked older) and usually walked with a stick. We didn't know he'd walked off the ward, so security and myself searched the hospital, and he was found outside on a bench enjoying a cigarette. We chatted, i told him he'd need to come back to the ward. At that point he went a bit vacant and started leaning to one side. 'SH*T he's having a cva'. We got him into the chair and rushed back to the ward. He was thrown onto the bed, as he was starting to deteriorate in front of us. We quietly got the crash team in place, and we stood around and waited for him to arrest. He stopped breathing, we bagged him, he started breathing again, we put up some iv fluids, we tried some nalaxone in case it was his painkillers that were causing the problem. Amazingly the on call reg managed to get a CT scan done, so we went down to CT, had him scanned, and on the way back to the ward he started to die, we'd seen it time and time again, the breathing alters, the patient starts to look different. So we ran full pelt back to the ward so this patient would have the dignity of dying on a ward, and not on a corridor. Staff were suitably fed up. We moaned at how we were too good at resuscitation now, and that all dignity this guy would have in death had been taken away. Relatives were informed (who lived a long distance away) that we werne't hopeful for his survival. Then things didn't go to plan. 4 hours later he turned over in bed. 6 hours later he sat up and asked for a drink. We weren't too concerned as we thought this was just one little pick up before the inevitable fall. Then the next day he got transferred to a stroke ward. Two weeks later he got transferred to a rehab ward. Three weeks later he went home. We were shocked. I was very shocked. But i also learned an important lesson - we have to give people a chance. We were convinced that this person wouldn't see out the night, let along leave the ward, or even go home. We were wrong. If we had done what we 'thought was best' rather than what we were trained to do, then this guy would be dead. It is not up to us to make decisions like that, we just have to do everything we can in our power for the patient. If you're going to take a fatalist view of things, then his heart was clearly not meant to fully stop that day as cpr, and ambulance, and you were put in his vicinity. It may not seem the best thing, but it is the right thing. As an aside, i saw my first VF arrest on saturday. He got up after 5 minutes because the floor was uncomfortable. Isn't electricity marvellous.