Differentiating DNI from DNR: combating code status conflation.

Goals of care discussions, including those focused on code status, are meant to foster autonomous decision making. Unfortunately, these discussions often conflate decisions regarding the use of cardiopulmonary resuscitation for cardiac arrest and mechanical ventilation for prearrest respiratory failure. They also exclude discussions of outcomes, particularly those associated with prearrest respiratory failure. In doing so, they may fail in their intention of extending patient autonomy. Journal of Hospital Medicine 2014;9:669-670.