| active euthanasia | The intentional act of ending the life of a patient who is suffering from an incurable and painful disease.
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| advance directive | A legal form or statement made by an individual to express his or her preferences about life-sustaining treatment in the event he or she becomes unable to make such decisions or communicate them in the future.
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| Aesculapian authority | The traditional "godlike" place of honor given to physicians in society and referring to Aesculapius, the first physician according to Greek legend. The components of such authority include (1) sapiential authority, based on the physician's special knowledge or expertise; (2) moral authority, based on the rightness and goodness of the enterprise of medicine and doing what is expected of a good physician; and (3) charismatic authority, which derives from the original unity of medicine and religion and the involvement of the physician in matters of life and death.
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| allowing to die | Withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.
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| artificial nutrition and hydration | The use of medical technologies, such as feeding tubes and intravenous lines, to provide nourishment and liquids to patients who are unable to take nourishment or liquids by mouth.
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| autonomy | An individual's right to be self-governing, to exercise self-direction and moral independence.
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| beneficence | Doing good or conferring benefits that enhance personal or social well-being.
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| beneficiary | The person designated to receive money, property, or other distributions from the settlement of an estate or named to receive other benefits.
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| bequest | A gift or distribution of money, property, or other possessions.
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| cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) | A medical procedure intended to restore normal breathing and heartbeat after cardiac arrest.
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| CMO (comfort measures only) | A message to medical staff that a patient does not want attempts made to revive him or her in the event of cardiac or respiratory failure.
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| codicil | An amendment or change to a will.
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| Death with Dignity Act (Oregon) | A ballot initiative passed by Oregon voters in 1994 and reaffirmed in 1997 that allows physicians under certain conditions to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill patients. See also physician-assisted suicide (PAS).
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| DNR (do not resuscitate) | A message to medical staff that a patient does not want attempts made to revive him or her in event of cardiac or respiratory failure.
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| double effect | The doctrine that a harmful effect of treatment, even if it results in death, is permissible if the harm is not intended and occurs as a side effect of a beneficial action.
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| durable power of attorney for health care | See health care proxy.
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| estate | The money, property, and other possessions belonging to an individual.
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| ethics | The discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation.
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| executor | A person named in a will to see that the provisions of the will are carried out properly.
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| extraordinary measures | Medical interventions intended to sustain life temporarily until a patient's own restorative powers allow the resumption of normal biological functioning.
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| futile treatment | A medical intervention that is ineffective or serves no useful purpose, especially one capable of postponing death but offering no reasonable hope of improvement.
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| health care proxy | A form of advance directive whereby an individual appoints another person, known as a proxy, as a representative to make decisions about medical treatment if the individual becomes unable to do so.
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| Hippocratic Oath | A guide for the conduct of physicians that relates to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates.
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| iconics | Objects that communicate meaningful symbolic information, such as distinctive clothing worn by medical staff.
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| informed consent | The duty of physicians to disclose information about treatment to patients and to obtain their consent before proceeding with treatment.
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| intestate succession | The distribution of an estate according to guidelines established in state law when a person has not made a will.
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| justice | Right and proper action; fairness; finding balance among competing interests.
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| life insurance | An element of estate planning that provides for payment of funds to a designated beneficiary upon the insured's death.
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| living will | A form of advance directive that enables individuals to provide instructions about the kind of medical care they wish to receive if they become incapacitated or otherwise unable to participate in treatment decisions.
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| neonatal intensive care | Sophisticated medical care for seriously ill newborns.
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| passive euthanasia | See allowing to die.
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| paternalism | The assumption of parentlike authority by medical practitioners, potentially infringing on a patient's freedom to make medical decisions even though such authority is exercised with benevolent intent.
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| Patient Self-Determination Act | Legislation enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1990 that requires providers of services under Medicare and Medicaid to inform patients of their rights to appoint a health care proxy and to document their wishes for treatment by using advance directives.
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| physician-assisted suicide (PAS) | A situation in which a physician, at the patient's request, intentionally helps a patient hasten his or her death by providing lethal drugs or other interventions with the understanding that the patient plans to use them to end his or her life.
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| placebo | A substance lacking active pharmacologic properties given as medicine for its suggestive effect or for mental relief of the patient rather than its actual effect on a disease.
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| probate | The legal process by which an estate is settled and property distributed.
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| prognosis | The expected course and duration of a disease.
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| proximics | The study of how spatial and temporal factors affect individuals in social and interpersonal situations and how differences in the use of space and time relate to environmental and cultural factors.
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| right to die | The argument that individuals have a right to decide for themselves when suffering outweighs the benefit of continued life and can therefore refuse further medical treatment intended to sustain life and even take steps to actively hasten their death.
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| slippery slope | The argument that one should not permit acts that, even if moral in themselves, would pave the way for later acts that would be immoral.
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| surrogate | In the context of advance directives, a person appointed to make decisions about medical treatment. See also health care proxy.
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| testator | A person who makes a will.
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| total care | A personal and comprehensive approach to medical care that attends not only to a patient's physical needs, but also to his or her mental, emotional, and spiritual needs; also known as whole patient care.
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| viatical settlement | A process that allows patients with terminal illness to sell their life insurance policies to settlement companies before death and receive payment for a percentage of the policy's face value.
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| whole patient care | See total care.
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| will | A legal instrument expressing a person's intentions and wishes for the disposition of his or her property after death.
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| withholding vs. withdrawing treatment | A competent patient generally has the right to either withhold (not start) or withdraw (stop) an unwanted treatment.
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