When should doctors fake CPR?

There’s a bit of theater sometimes performed in hospital rooms: the play-acting of what’s known as a “slow code.”

A slow code is a half-hearted attempt at CPR. Maybe the doctors will walk, not run, to the room. Maybe they’ll push a little less hard on the person’s chest. Whatever the method, it’s pretend CPR. They are not trying to resuscitate the patient. Instead, they are trying to limit the harm and brutality that might otherwise characterize the inevitable death of the patient while also avoiding conflict with grieving families struggling to face the inevitable.

At first glance, it sounds like malpractice. And for decades, that’s exactly what bioethicists have called it. The consensus has been near-total: Slow codes are unethical and should never be performed. They were taken to task