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Life support, in the medical field, refers to a set of therapies for preserving a patient's life when essential body systems are not functioning sufficiently to sustain life unaided. Life support therapies utilize some combination of several techniques: feeding tube
Feeding tube

A feeding tube is a medical device used to provide nutrition to patients who cannot obtain nutrition by swallowing. The state of being fed by a feeding tube is called enteral feeding or tube feeding....
s, intravenous drips, total parenteral nutrition
Total parenteral nutrition

Total parenteral nutrition , is the practice of feeding a person intravenously, bypassing the usual process of eating and digestion. The person receives nutritional formulas containing salts, glucose, amino acids, lipids and added vitamins....
, mechanical respiration, heart/lung bypass, urinary catheterization
Urinary catheterization

In urinary catheterization, or "cathing" for short, a plastic tube known as a urinary catheter is inserted into a patient's urinary bladder via their urethra....
 and dialysis
Dialysis

In medicine, dialysis is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function due to renal failure. Dialysis may be used for very sick patients who have suddenly but temporarily, lost their kidney function or for quite stable patients who have permanently lost their kidney function ....
. The same techniques are also used for intensive care
Intensive care medicine

Intensive Care Medicine or critical care medicine is a branch of medicine concerned with the provision of life support or organ support systems in patients who are critically ill and who usually require intensive monitoring....
 or in some cases during surgery
Surgery

Surgery is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance, or sometimes for some other reason....
, though life support is employed to stabilize a patient and is typically not sufficient to allow full recovery from their condition.

as been proposed that the practice of artificially prolonging the life of an individual who will not recover to be unethical
Medical ethics

Medical ethics is primarily a field of applied ethics, the study of moral values and judgments as they apply to medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology....
. Roman Catholic moral teachings, pronounced in 1993, suggest that the employment of artificial means is not necessary to fulfill the duty to respect life; however the term "artificial means" may vary in meaning between different schools of thought within and outside Catholicism.






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Life support, in the medical field, refers to a set of therapies for preserving a patient's life when essential body systems are not functioning sufficiently to sustain life unaided. Life support therapies utilize some combination of several techniques: feeding tube
Feeding tube

A feeding tube is a medical device used to provide nutrition to patients who cannot obtain nutrition by swallowing. The state of being fed by a feeding tube is called enteral feeding or tube feeding....
s, intravenous drips, total parenteral nutrition
Total parenteral nutrition

Total parenteral nutrition , is the practice of feeding a person intravenously, bypassing the usual process of eating and digestion. The person receives nutritional formulas containing salts, glucose, amino acids, lipids and added vitamins....
, mechanical respiration, heart/lung bypass, urinary catheterization
Urinary catheterization

In urinary catheterization, or "cathing" for short, a plastic tube known as a urinary catheter is inserted into a patient's urinary bladder via their urethra....
 and dialysis
Dialysis

In medicine, dialysis is primarily used to provide an artificial replacement for lost kidney function due to renal failure. Dialysis may be used for very sick patients who have suddenly but temporarily, lost their kidney function or for quite stable patients who have permanently lost their kidney function ....
. The same techniques are also used for intensive care
Intensive care medicine

Intensive Care Medicine or critical care medicine is a branch of medicine concerned with the provision of life support or organ support systems in patients who are critically ill and who usually require intensive monitoring....
 or in some cases during surgery
Surgery

Surgery is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, to help improve bodily function or appearance, or sometimes for some other reason....
, though life support is employed to stabilize a patient and is typically not sufficient to allow full recovery from their condition.

Ethics

It has been proposed that the practice of artificially prolonging the life of an individual who will not recover to be unethical
Medical ethics

Medical ethics is primarily a field of applied ethics, the study of moral values and judgments as they apply to medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology....
. Roman Catholic moral teachings, pronounced in 1993, suggest that the employment of artificial means is not necessary to fulfill the duty to respect life; however the term "artificial means" may vary in meaning between different schools of thought within and outside Catholicism. Most Catholic theologians however, divide the issue into "ordinary" and "extraordinary" means, and believe that it is an ethical imperative to continue the ordinary means, but ethically neutral to withhold the extraordinary means. They define ordinary means as things like feeding, and extraordinary means as things like artificial breathing. This must not be confused with DNR orders or euthanasia, the withdrawal of such support from the vegetative, comatose, elderly or those who have serious injuries or illnesses that are debilitating or even terminal. All patients must be given some means of ventilation and adequate nutrition and hydration; as well as adequate palliative pain medication, such as opioid analgesics, even though it may shorten their lives..

See also

  • Basic life support
    Basic life support

    Basic Life Support is a level of medical care which is used for patients with life-threatening illness or injury until the patient can be given full medical care....
  • Advanced cardiac life support
    Advanced cardiac life support

    Advanced cardiac life support or refers to a set of clinical interventions for the urgent treatment of cardiac arrest and other life threatening medical emergencies, as well as the knowledge and skills to deploy those interventions....
  • Uniform Rights of the Terminally Ill Act
    Uniform Rights of the Terminally Ill Act

    The Uniform Rights of the Terminally Ill Act , has been recommended as a Uniform Act in the United States, and subsequently been passed by many states....