THERE can be no more difficult decision than that faced by medical staff about when to give up the fight to save a life.

Doctors and nurses work to save life and make it better, not to bring it to an end, but they regularly face situations in which it may seem kinder not to doggedly pursue life regardless of how that life will be should they succeed in saving it.

It’s a tough choice, and there can be few more difficult conversations than the one that flows from it: asking a patient to say if he or she would like to be resuscitated.

Difficult it may be, but it’s a humane and civilised way for patients can make known their wishes if the worst should happen.

The trouble is York man John Flatt and his family insist this discussion never happened to them, and that if they had been asked, they would never have agreed to a “do not resuscitate” instruction.

And yet, to their horror, they say they found such an instruction had been wrongly placed in his notes. The note suggests the matter was agreed with his “daughters”, but that has attracted a shocked denial.

The hospital has expressed concern and is investigating the Flatts’ complaint.

We hope the family will have the answers as soon as possible, because they need to feel safe and reassured. In 2011 York Hospital Trust was told to improve how it recorded “do not resuscitate” instructions, and the following year was found to be meeting standards.

We hope that this complaint is an isolated matter.