Archives: Terms and Definitions

Associated with care delivered to persons with terminal disease. To palliate means to relieve symptoms without curing them. In this regard, palliative treatment refers to

Advance directives are written legal documents by which patients express their wishes about the kind of health care they want to receive in the event

A legal document that allows people to state in advance their desire to receive, or their desire to withhold, life-support and other life-sustaining procedures when

The concept of individual autonomy, the right of an individual to make decisions about one’s life and medical care, is the basic principle underlying patients’

Hospice is a non-institutional health care alternative for terminally ill persons. Nearly all hospice care is delivered to a patient in his or her home.

The ethical principle of Double Effect is used to justify medical treatment designed to relieve suffering where death is its unintended (though foreseen) consequence. According

Also often called a “no code,” a DNR is placed on a patient’s medical chart to indicate there should be no attempt to restart a

Refers to the ability of a patient to make a rational choice in his or her own best interest. A person may be diagnosed as

Comfort Care refers to care that is designed to provide comfort and dignity when curative therapy is no longer appropriate. It includes the process of

Globally, various positive developments have happened this year to obtain choices for a dignified death, according to the World Federation of Right to Die Societies