The Slow Code: Is It Ethical?

Slow codes, defined as half-hearted efforts to resuscitate patients, have been called deceptive, dishonest, unethical and deplorable. But is it time to reconsider that point of view? Can slow codes be appropriate and ethically defensible? Dr. John Lantos thinks so, and he expresses that point of view here and in the November 2011 edition of The American Journal of Bioethics. (Nov. 9, 2011)