The "Slow Code" Debate

Half-hearted medical care for hopeless cases

Robert Cribb

Toronto Star

November 25, 2012

Dr. John Lantos, director of the Children’s Mercy Bioethics Center in Kansas City and co-author of a journal article titled “Should the ‘slow code’ be resuscitated?” says the clandestine practice is happening far more than medical professionals openly concede.

“People say, ‘We’d never do a slow code. But they also say they stop resuscitation after three or five minutes. “I think it’s appropriate to do that. I just think it’s politically incorrect to admit the real rationale. They’re stopping because CPR is futile and inhumane.”

Link to Podcast: Resuscitate the Slow Code? John Lantos, MD, The Bioethics Channel, November 9, 2012