| A | B |
|---|
| life-support systems | Medical technologies, such as the respirator, that allow vital body functions to be artificially sustained |
| brain death | A medical determination of death as the cessation of brain activity indicated by various diagnostic criteria |
| electroencephalogram (EEG) | A record of the electrical activity of the brain (brain waves) |
| clinical death | A determination of death made according to accepted medical criteria |
| cellular death | The breakdown of metabolic processes at the level of the cell |
| mature understanding of death | Recognizing that death is-universal, irreversible, the cessation of all physiological functioning, and a biological occurance |
| noncorporeal continuity | The notion that human beings survive in some form after the death of the physical body |
| will | A legal instrument expressing a person's intentions and wishes for the disposition of his or her property after death |
| estate | The money, property, and other possessions belonging to a person |
| testator | The person who makes a will |
| intestate | Referring to the situation in which a person dies without having made a legal will |
| palliative care | A form of medical care aimed at reducing the intensity or severity of a disease by controlling pain/discomforting symptoms |
| hospice | A program of care for dying patients and their families |
| persistent vegetative state | A condition of profound unconsciousness in which a person lacks normal relfexes and is unresponsive to external stimuli |
| passive euthanasia | The practice of withholding (not starting) or withdrawing (stopping) treatment that could potentially sustain a person's life |
| physician-assisted suicide (PAS) | The practice of a physician intentionally providing, at the patient's request, a means for a patient to hasten death |
| double effect | A situation in which a harmful effect occurs as an unintended side effect of a beneficial action |
| active euthanasia | A deliberate act intended to end another person's life |
| advance directive | Stmt. from a competent person of their choices for med. treatment if unable to make such decisions/communicate |
| living will | Advance directive-allows individuals to provide instructions about their medical care if they become unable to participate in treatment decisions |
| health care proxy | Adv. directive-allows an indiv. to appoint someone as an agent in making health care decisions if they can't |
| surrogate | The agent or substitute decision maker appointed by a person to act on his or her behalf by means of a health care proxy |
| Uniform Donor Card | A consent form authorizing the use of the signer's body parts for transplantation or medical research upon his or her death |
| embalming | The process of removing blood and other fluids and replacing them with chemicals |
| memorial society | A nonprofit membership group that provides simple and economical burial or cremation |
| middle knowledge | State of knowing when a person acknowledges the reality of a threatening situation and maintains hope |
| defense mechanisms | Unconscious mental processes that alter a person's internal psych. states in reaction to a threat w/o affecting the external problem |
| coping strategies | Conscious, purposeful efforts employed with the intention of controlling a threatening or stressful situation or problem |
| trajectory of dying | Duration and nature of a person's experience in approaching death as influenced by the cause of dying |
| grief | A person's reaction to loss as manifested physically, emotionally, mentally, and behaviorally |
| bereavement | The objective event of loss |
| mourning | The process whereby a person actively copes with grief in adjusting to a loss and integrating it into his or her life |
