All Topics  
Terminal illness

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Terminal illness
 
 
  Topics Terminal illness Topic Home

Terminal illness is a medical term
Medical terminology

Medical terminology is a vocabulary for accurately describing the human body and associated components, conditions, processes and process in a science-based manner....
 popularized in the 20th century to describe an active and malignant
Malignant

Malignant is a medical term used to describe a severe and progressively worsening disease. The term is most familiar as a description of cancer....
 disease
Disease

A disease or medical condition is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and Medical signs....
 that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death
Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
 of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer
Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cell display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis . These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, do not invade or metastasize....
 or advanced heart disease
Heart disease

Heart disease is an umbrella term for a variety for different diseases affecting the heart. As of 2007, it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, killing one person every 34 seconds in the United States alone....
 than for trauma
Physical trauma

Physical trauma refers to a body injury. A trauma patient is someone who has suffered serious and life-threatening physical injury with the potential for secondary complications such as Shock , respiratory failure and death....
. In popular use, it indicates a disease which will end the life of the sufferer.

A patient who has such an illness may be referred to as a terminal patient or terminally ill.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Terminal illness'
Start a new discussion about 'Terminal illness'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Recent Posts

A portrait for History?








Encyclopedia


Terminal illness is a medical term
Medical terminology

Medical terminology is a vocabulary for accurately describing the human body and associated components, conditions, processes and process in a science-based manner....
 popularized in the 20th century to describe an active and malignant
Malignant

Malignant is a medical term used to describe a severe and progressively worsening disease. The term is most familiar as a description of cancer....
 disease
Disease

A disease or medical condition is an abnormal condition of an organism that impairs bodily functions, associated with specific symptoms and Medical signs....
 that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death
Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
 of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer
Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cell display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis . These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, do not invade or metastasize....
 or advanced heart disease
Heart disease

Heart disease is an umbrella term for a variety for different diseases affecting the heart. As of 2007, it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, killing one person every 34 seconds in the United States alone....
 than for trauma
Physical trauma

Physical trauma refers to a body injury. A trauma patient is someone who has suffered serious and life-threatening physical injury with the potential for secondary complications such as Shock , respiratory failure and death....
. In popular use, it indicates a disease which will end the life of the sufferer.

A patient who has such an illness may be referred to as a terminal patient or terminally ill. Often, a patient is considered to be terminally ill when the life expectancy is estimated to be six months or less, under the assumption that the disease will run its normal course. The six-month standard is arbitrary, and best available estimates of longevity may be incorrect. Consequently, though a given patient may properly be considered terminal, this is not a guarantee that the patient will die within six months. Similarly, a patient with a slowly progressing disease, such as AIDS
AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the HIV ....
, may not be considered terminally ill because the best estimates of longevity were greater than six months. However this does not guarantee that the patient will not die unexpectedly early. In general, physicians slightly overestimate survival so that, for example, a person who is expected to live for about six weeks would likely die around four weeks.

Dying

Patients, healthcare workers, and recently bereaved family members often describe a good death in terms of effective choices made in a few areas:

  • Assurance of effective pain and symptom management
  • Education about death and its aftermath, especially as it relates to decision-making
  • Completion of any significant goals, such as resolving past conflicts


People who are terminally ill may or may not follow recognizable stages of grief
Grief

Grief is a multi-faceted response to loss. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, it also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, and philosophical dimensions....
. For example, a person who finds strength in denial
Denial

Denial is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence....
 may never reach a point of acceptance or accommodation and may react negatively to any statement that threatens this defense mechanism. Other people find comfort in meticulously arranging their financial and legal affairs or planning their funeral
Funeral

A funeral is a ceremony marking a person's death. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from the funeral itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honour....
s.

See also

  • Anticipatory grief
    Anticipatory grief

    Anticipatory grief refers to a grief reaction that occurs in anticipation of an impending death. While this term is usually used in connection with spouses, other people and even dying people can experience anticipatory grief themselves....
  • Do Not Resuscitate
    Do not resuscitate

    In the United States, a do not resuscitate, or DNR, order is a written order from a physician that resuscitation should not be attempted if a person suffers cardiac arrest or respiratory arrest....
  • Euthanasia
    Euthanasia

    Euthanasia refers to the practice of ending a life in a painless manner. Many different forms of euthanasia can be distinguished, including euthanasia and human euthanasia, and within the latter, voluntary and involuntary euthanasia....
  • Interventionism
    Interventionism

    Interventionism may refer to:*Interventionism is a political term for significant activity undertaken by a state to influence something not directly under its control....
  • Living will
    Living will

    Advance health care directives, also known as advance directives or advance decisions, are instructions given by individuals specifying what actions should be taken for their health in the event that they are no longer able to make decisions due to illness or incapacity....