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Jeffrey E. Epstein, MD
Delran, NJ

Arch Intern Med. 1995;155(3):330.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

The ARCHIVES has recently published a series of articles^1,2 on do-not-resuscitate orders, limited code status, and comfort care. One article¹ was particularly interesting because it outlined ways to improve communication of code status between attending physicians and other staff members when the patient was on a limited code status.

My hospital's Critical Care Committee has decided that limited code status is always inappropriate and always unacceptable. At my hospital, a patient is considered for either a full code or a do-not-resuscitate order. The Critical Care Committee's argument is that you are either going to go all out to save a patient or you should do nothing at all.

I believe that there is a role for limited codes. For example, when a terminally ill patient will not agree to a do-not-resuscitate order (because the patient is afraid of abandonment or afraid to die), the patient will sometimes agree . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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