What does "No Code" mean here?

[NewHopeR]

Context:
Almost all medical professionals have seen what we call "futile care" being performed on people. That's when doctors bring the cutting edge of technology to bear on a grievously ill person near the end of life. The patient will be cut open, perforated with tubes, hooked up to machines, and assaulted with drugs. All of this occurs in the intensive care unit at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars a day. What it buys is misery we would not inflict on a terrorist. I cannot count the number of times fellow physicians have told me, in words that vary only slightly: "Promise me that if you find me like this you'll kill me." They mean it. Some medical personnel wear medallions stamped "NO CODE" to tell physicians not to perform CPR on them. I have even seen it as a tattoo.

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[charliedeut]

Hi,

Look at this: Do Not Resuscitate Orders - No Code and Do Not Resuscitate, under the heading "Instituting a Do Not Resuscitate or a No Code Order".

Greetings,

charliedeut

 

[Tdol]

In the UK, I have heard DNR used, not No Code.

 

[emsr2d2]

In the UK, I have heard DNR used, not No Code.

Although it appears that the codewords are used internationally to give messages to doctors/nurses without the patients or the visitors necessarily picking up on the seriousness of the message, I don't think we are quite as familiar with the phrases in the UK. From 15 years of watching the US TV hospital drama, ER, I learnt more than is probably healthy about patients "coding" and nurses being instructed to "call a code". For instance, "Code Blue" means cardiac arrest and therefore the appropriate medical action to be taken. So presumably, "No Code" means "Do not call a code if I have a serious medical event". I agree with Tdol that DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) is generally used in the UK.

 

[Barb_D]

I have heard only DNR as well.