In Reversal, Me. District Honors 'Do Not Resuscitate' Order

By Sara Sklaroff

The Lewiston, Me., school board has voted to honor a mother's request that school employees not attempt to resuscitate her severely disabled daughter in a medical emergency.

The board's action last month would not prevent outside medical technicians from providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Nevertheless, the decision has stirred controversy over the issue of how schools should respond to the needs of the growing number of "medically fragile'' students in classrooms.

The issue in Lewiston began when a pediatrician treating Corey Brown, a 12-year-old whose spastic cerebral palsy and severe scoliosis make it difficult for her to breathe, requested that school personnel be instructed not to try to revive the girl if...