noun General Slang

Hollywood Code

· noun · medical

A fake, for-show resuscitation done so the family thinks everything was tried.

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Definitions

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A resuscitation that's all performance, no intent. Staff go through the motions — shallow compressions, half-hearted drug pushes — on a patient they've already accepted as gone, usually because the family hasn't accepted it yet. Ethically radioactive: the American Nurses Association calls it flat-out wrong, but surveys say most clinicians have seen one.

“Ninety-eight years old, full-code per the daughter, no chance. The attending called a Hollywood Code and we wrapped it in four minutes.”
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Hollywood Code In A Sentence

Ninety-eight years old, full-code per the daughter, no chance. The attending called a Hollywood Code and we wrapped it in four minutes.

Origin & Usage

Hospital slang nodding to TV medical dramas — the resuscitation is theatre, staged for an audience. Sibling terms 'show code' and 'slow code' cover the same ground.

Variants show codeslow codelight blue
Tags #medical#hospital#ethics#end-of-life

People Also Ask

Is a Hollywood Code legal?

It exists in a grey zone — not openly sanctioned, widely reported, and increasingly called out as a violation of informed consent. Hospitals don't put it in writing.

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