| A | B |
|---|
| advance directives | Signed and witnessed documents providing specific instructions for health care treatment in the event the person is unable to make those decisions personally at the time they are needed. |
| anticipatory grief | Expectation of or preparation for the loss of one of more valued or significant objects; accomplishment of part of the grief work before the actual loss. |
| autopsy | Examination performed after a person's death to confirm or determine the cause of death. |
| bereavement | Common depressed reaction to the death of a loved one. |
| bereavement overload | The individual's experience of an initial loss compounded with an additional loss, before resolution of the initial loss. |
| complicated grieving | Unresolved grief or complicated mourning. |
| death | Cessation of life. |
| Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) | A note written in a patient's record and signed by a qualified attending physician intructing the staff of the institution not to attempt to resuscitate the patient in the event of cardiac or respiratory failure. |
| durable power of attorney | A written determination that appoints another person tomake decisions in the event of the patient's incompetence. usually completed by a patient while still able to function. |
| dysfunctional grieving | Unresolved grief or complicated mourning. |
| euthanasia | deliberately bringing about the death of a person who is suffering from an incurable disease or condition; can be done actively or passively. |
| grief | A patternof physical and emotional responses to bereavement, separation, or loss; a natural response to loss. |
| grief therapy | Mental treatment aimed at helping an individual deal with the pain of loss; a program in assisting the bereaved to cope with their loss. |
| grief work | Adaptation process of mourning a loss. |
| inquest | legal inquiry into the cause or the manner of a death |
| living will | A legal document drawn up by a person who is not yet near death detailing how much medical care he or she wants to receive if teminally ill. |
| loss | When any aspect of self is no longer available to a person., that person suffers loss. |
| maturational loss | A loss from normal life transitions. |
| morbidity | An illness or an abnormal condition or quality; the rate at which an illness occurs in a particular area of population. |
| mortality | The condition of being subject to death. |
| mortician | Person trained in the care of the dead. |
| mourning | Reaction activated by a person to assist in overcoming a great personal loss. |
| palliative care | Preventing, relieving, reducing, or soothing symptoms of disease or disorders without effecting a cure. |
| postmortem care | Care of the body after death. |
| situational loss | Loss occuring suddenly in response to a specific external effect. |
| thanalogy | The study of dying and death. |
