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Advance
Directive: A set of instructions, usually written,
that allows you to specify the kind of treatment you would
want if, in the future, you were very ill and unable to
make decisions. Both the "living will" and the "durable
healthcare power of attorney" are advance directives,
and it is recommended people complete both.
Artificial Nutrition and Hydration: A variety of
therapies meant to prevent dehydration or malnutrition
in a patient who cannot swallow. Most commonly this involves:
- Intravenous
(IV) therapy -fluids and medications go directly
into the patients' blood stream.
- Total
Perental Nutrition (TPN) - nutrients are administered
directly into the patients' bloodstream.
- Naso-gastric
(NG) tube feedings - liquid nutrition is administered
through a tube placed in the patient's stomach through
the nose.
- Feeding
tube (G-tube) - liquid nutrition is administered
through a tube surgically placed in a patient's stomach.
Cardiopulmonary
Resuscitation (CPR): Procedures used when a person's
heart stops beating or they stop breathing. It can include
mouth-to-mouth breathing, chest compressions, electric
shock, and drugs to stimulate the heart.
"Do Not Intubate Order" (DNI): A physician's order
to not pass a tube into a patient's windpipe to facilitate
breathing. Intubation includes use of a ventilator.
"Do Not Resuscitate Order" (DNR): A physician's
order dictating that you do not want to be resuscitated
if your heart AND breathing stop. Also called "no code."
Durable Power Of Attorney: A written authorization
for someone, usually called an agent, to act on your behalf
if you become incapacitated and are unable to make decisions
for yourself.
Ethics Committee or Ethics Consult: A group or
individual that offers an opinion on cases in which providers,
family members, and clients disagree about the best course
of action.
Futile Care: Treatment or therapy that will not
cure the patient or increase his/her comfort, but will
only prolong the vegetative or dying state. This treatment
should be stopped as soon as its futility is realized.
Also referred to as Medical Futility.
General Power of Attorney: A document that grants
broad power to an agent to carry out actions on your behalf.
However, the power to make health care decisions is not
presumed but must be specified in the document.
Health Care Power of Attorney: A document that
grants power to an agent to make medical decisions for
you. A "durable" health care power of attorney allows
the agent to continue to make medical decisions on your
behalf if you become incapacitated. Ideally, the agent
should know your wishes and agree to carry them out.
Hospice Care: A type of care, usually provided
in the home, that gives support and comfort for terminally
ill people who have entered the last months of life. An
interdisciplinary team helps people to live fully, free
from suffering.
Living Will: A document regarding your wishes for
medical treatment when you are in imminent danger of dying,
including artificial nutrition and hydration. This is
one part of the advance directive explained above.
Palliative Care: Treatment or therapy provided
to increase comfort of people with incurable, progressive
illnesses. This treatment is not designed to cure patients.
Rather its goal is to promote the best possible quality
of life through relief of suffering, control of symptoms,
and restoration of functional capacity while remaining
sensitive to personal, cultural, and religious values,
beliefs, and practices. Palliative care is what hospice
provides. Also known as Comfort Care.
Proxy: An individual who has been granted the authority
or power to act on another's behalf. Also known as an
agent.
Ventilator: A machine that helps a patient to breathe.
It can be used temporarily until a person can breathe
without assistance or as a permanent breathing aide. |
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