Dysthanasia
In medicine, dysthanasia occurs when a person who is dying has their biological life extended through technological means without regard to the person's quality of life. The term dysthanasia means "bad death" (from the Greek language: δυσ, ''dus''; "bad", "difficult" + θάνατος, ''thanatos''; "death") and is considered by some to be a common fault of modern medicine. Technologies such as an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, artificial ventilation, ventricular assist devices, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation can extend the dying process. In some cases, cardiopulmonary resuscitation can be considered a form of dysthanasia. See also *Brain death *Death with Dignity National Center *Euthanasia *Life support *Palliative care Palliative care (from Latin root "to cloak") is an interdisciplinary medical care-giving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating or reducing suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Euthanasia
Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), select committee on medical ethics defines euthanasia as "a deliberate intervention undertaken with the express intention of ending a life to relieve intractable suffering". In the Netherlands and Belgium, euthanasia is understood as "termination of life by a doctor at the request of a patient". The Dutch law, however, does not use the term 'euthanasia' but includes the concept under the broader definition of "assisted suicide and termination of life on request". Euthanasia is categorised in different ways, which include Voluntary euthanasia, voluntary, Non-voluntary euthanasia, non-voluntary, and Involuntary euthanasia, involuntary. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure used during Cardiac arrest, cardiac or Respiratory arrest, respiratory arrest that involves chest compressions, often combined with artificial ventilation, to preserve brain function and maintain circulation until spontaneous breathing and heartbeat can be restored. It is indication (medicine), recommended for those who are unresponsive with no breathing or abnormal breathing, for example, agonal respirations. CPR involves chest compressions for adults between and deep and at a rate of at least 100 to 120 per minute. The rescuer may also provide artificial ventilation by either exhaling air into the subject's mouth or nose (mouth-to-mouth resuscitation) or using a device that pushes air into the subject's lungs (mechanical ventilation). Current recommendations emphasize early and high-quality chest compressions over artificial ventilation; a simplified CPR method involving only chest compressions is recommended for ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, and Health promotion, promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention (medical), prevention and treatment of illness. Contemporary medicine applies biomedical sciences, biomedical research, medical genetics, genetics, and medical technology to diagnosis (medical), diagnose, treat, and prevent injury and disease, typically through pharmaceuticals or surgery, but also through therapies as diverse as psychotherapy, splint (medicine), external splints and traction, medical devices, biologic medical product, biologics, and Radiation (medicine), ionizing radiation, amongst others. Medicine has been practiced since Prehistoric medicine, prehistoric times, and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a form of extracorporeal life support, providing prolonged cardiac and respiratory system, respiratory support to people whose human heart, heart and human lung, lungs are unable to provide an adequate amount of oxygen, gas exchange or blood supply (perfusion) to sustain life. The technology for ECMO is largely derived from cardiopulmonary bypass, which provides shorter-term support with arrested native circulation. The device used is a membrane oxygenator, also known as an artificial lung. ECMO works by temporarily drawing blood from the body to allow artificial oxygenation of the red blood cells and removal of carbon dioxide. Generally, it is used either post-cardiopulmonary bypass or in late-stage treatment of a person with profound heart and/or lung failure, although it is now seeing use as a treatment for cardiac arrest in certain centers, allowing treatment of the underlying cause of arrest while circulation and oxygenation are ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Palliative Care
Palliative care (from Latin root "to cloak") is an interdisciplinary medical care-giving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating or reducing suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Many definitions of palliative care exist. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes palliative care as:"an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial, and spiritual". Since the 1990s, many palliative care programs involved a disease-specific approach. However, as the field developed throughout the 2000s, the WHO began to take a broader patient-centered approach that suggests that the principles of palliative care should be applied as early as possible to any chronic and ultimatel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Life Support
Life support comprises the treatments and techniques performed in an emergency in order to support life after the failure of one or more vital organs. Healthcare providers and emergency medical technicians are generally certified to perform basic and advanced life support procedures; however, basic life support is sometimes provided at the scene of an emergency by family members or bystanders before emergency services arrive. In the case of cardiac injuries, cardiopulmonary resuscitation is initiated by bystanders or family members 25% of the time. Basic life support techniques, such as performing CPR on a victim of cardiac arrest, can double or even triple that patient's chance of survival. Other types of basic life support include relief from choking (which can be done by using the Heimlich maneuver), staunching of bleeding by direct compression and elevation above the heart (and if necessary, pressure on arterial pressure points and the use of a manufactured or improvised ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Death With Dignity National Center
Death with Dignity National Center is a 501(c)(3) Nonpartisanism, nonpartisan nonprofit organization, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, that has led the legal defense of and education about Assisted suicide, Death with Dignity laws throughout the United States for more than 25 years. The Death with Dignity National Center helped write and defend in courts the nation's first successful assisted dying law, the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, protecting the right of persons with terminal illness to control their own death. The Death with Dignity National Center is affiliated with the Death with Dignity Political Fund, a distinct and separately incorporated 501(c)(4) organization responsible for the promotion of death with dignity legislation in other states around the U.S. where medically assisted death has become the law in 9 states and the capital :Oregon Washington Vermont California Colorado Washington D.C. Hawai’i Maine New Jersey New Mexico Mission "The mission of the Deat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brain Death
Brain death is the permanent, irreversible, and complete loss of Electroencephalography, brain function, which may include cessation of involuntary activity (e.g., Control of ventilation#Control of respiratory rhythm, breathing) necessary to sustain life. It differs from persistent vegetative state, in which the person is alive and some autonomic functions remain. It is also distinct from comas as long as some brain and bodily activity and function remain, and it is also not the same as the condition locked-in syndrome. A differential diagnosis can medically distinguish these differing conditions. Brain death is used as an indicator of legal death in many jurisdictions, but it is Medical definition of death, defined inconsistently and often confused by the public. Various parts of the brain may keep functioning when others do not anymore, bringing questions about whether they should truly be considered dead. The term "brain death" has been used to refer to various combinations. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ventricular Assist Device
A ventricular assist device (VAD) is an electromechanics, electromechanical device that provides support for cardiac pump function, which is used either to partially or to completely replace the function of a failing heart. VADs can be used in patients with acute (sudden onset) or chronic (long standing) heart failure, which can occur due to coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation, valvular disease, and other conditions. Categorization of VADs VADs may be used to manage a variety of cardiac diseases and can be categorized based on which ventricle the device is assisting, and whether the VAD will be temporary or permanent. Ventricular Assistance First, VADs can be categorized based on whether they are designed to assist the right ventricle (heart), ventricle (RVAD) or the left ventricle (LVAD) or to both ventricles (BiVAD). The type of VAD implanted depends on the type of underlying heart disease (e.g. patients with right ventricular failure from pulmonary arterial hyperten ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Quality Of Life (healthcare)
In healthcare, quality of life is an assessment of how the individual's well-being may be affected over time by a disease, disability or disorder. Measurement Early versions of healthcare-related quality of life measures referred to simple assessments of physical abilities by an external rater (for example, the patient is able to get up, eat and drink, and take care of personal hygiene without any help from others) or even to a single measurement (for example, the angle to which a limb could be flexed). The current concept of health-related quality of life acknowledges that subjects put their actual situation in relation to their personal expectation. The latter can vary over time, and react to external influences such as length and severity of illness, family support, etc. As with any situation involving multiple perspectives, patients' and physicians' rating of the same objective situation have been found to differ significantly. Consequently, health-related quality of life is ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Artificial Ventilation
Artificial ventilation or respiration is when a machine assists in a metabolic process to exchange gases in the body by pulmonary ventilation, external respiration, and internal respiration. A machine called a ventilator provides the person air manually by moving air in and out of the lungs when an individual is unable to breathe on their own. The ventilator prevents the accumulation of carbon dioxide so that the lungs don't collapse due to the low pressure. The use of artificial ventilation can be traced back to the seventeenth century. There are three ways of exchanging gases in the body: manual methods, mechanical ventilation, and neurostimulation. Here are some key words used throughout the article. The process of forcing air into and out of the lungs is known as ventilation. The process by which oxygen is taken in by the bloodstream is called oxygenation. Lung compliance is the capacity of the lungs to contract and expand. The obstruction of airflow via the respiratory trac ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Social Science & Medicine
''Social Science & Medicine'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering social science research that is relevant to health. The disciplines covered by the journal include anthropology, economics, geography, psychology, social epidemiology, social policy, sociology, medicine, and health care practice, policy, and organization. The journal was established in 1967 and is published by Elsevier. History ''Social Science & Medicine'' () was published quarterly from 1967 to 1977 by Pergamon Press and was then split into: * ''Social Science & Medicine. Part A: Medical Psychology & Medical Sociology'' () * ''Social Science & Medicine. Part B: Medical Anthropology'' () * ''Social Science & Medicine. Part C: Medical Economics'' () * ''Social Science & Medicine. Part D: Medical Geography'' () * ''Social Science & Medicine. Part E: Medical Psychology'' () * ''Social Science & Medicine. Part F: Medical & Social Ethics'' () In 1982, Parts A-F were merged back into one journal. It was publ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |