- acceptance
- a grief stage marked by understanding the loss and acknowledging the new reality
- active euthanasia
- the administering of a lethal dose of medication to someone who wishes to die
- actual loss
- a loss clearly noticed by others
- advance directive (also, living will)
- a written legal document that details specific interventions a person wants
- agonal breathing
- gasping, labored breaths that may result in periods of apnea lasting many seconds
- allow natural death (AND)
- a directive allowing a natural unfolding of the dying process rather than withholding treatments
- anger
- a grief stage marked by an intense feeling of displeasure and hostility
- anticipatory loss
- a loss that an individual expects or foresees
- apnea
- temporary pauses in breathing
- autopsy
- a medical procedure in which a deceased person's body is systematically examined to determine the cause of death and to gain additional insights into the person's health and medical history
- bargaining
- a grief stage marked by attempts to “make a deal” that might change or renegotiate the undesired outcome
- bereavement
- the feeling of grief and the outward expression of mourning
- Cheyne-Stokes breathing
- a pattern of abnormal breathing characterized by progressively deeper and sometimes faster breathing, followed by a gradual decrease that results in a temporary stop in breathing (apnea)
- comfort care
- interventions that promote the comfort of the patient and family during the dying process
- compassion fatigue
- the emotional toll experienced by individuals caring for others
- complicated grief
- a state of grief that is prolonged, delayed, or exaggerated in which individuals have trouble coping and progressing through the normal grief process
- death
- the cessation of biological life functions
- death certificate
- a legal document, signed by a provider, confirming the circumstances of a person’s death
- denial
- a grief stage marked by refusal to acknowledge a loss or insistence that it isn’t happening
- depression
- a grief stage marked by prolonged sadness that affects an individual’s ability to perform everyday tasks
- do not intubate (DNI)
- an order stating that if a person stops breathing, medical personnel such as providers and nurses are not to place an intubation tube
- do not resuscitate (DNR)
- an order stating that if a person stops breathing or their heart stops beating, medical personnel such as providers and nurses are not to take steps to revive or resuscitate the patient
- dysfunctional grief
- grief that does not resolve as expected or in which an individual resorts to unhealthy coping strategies
- euthanasia
- the act of helping a person fulfill their wish to die
- grief
- the emotional response to loss
- healthcare proxy
- a specific person appointed to make medical decisions for you if you are unable to speak for yourself
- homicide
- the killing of one person by another person
- hospice care
- a specific type of comfort care provided at the end of life
- loss
- a real or perceived absence of a possession, circumstance, or individual
- maturational losses
- losses that occur at predictable intervals during an individual's life span
- mottling
- a bluish-red, lace-like (reticular) coloration of the skin
- mourning
- the outward, personal expression of grief
- organ donation
- the donation of organs or tissue that are removed from a person’s body and used for treatment in another person’s body or for other medical uses
- palliative care
- an interdisciplinary approach to specialized medical and nursing care for people with life-limiting illnesses
- palliative sedation
- the administration of pharmaceutical agents to reduce consciousness
- pallor
- an extremely pale hue of the skin
- pallor mortis
- a pale to greyish color of the skin that occurs shortly after death
- passive euthanasia
- the choice to withhold life-sustaining treatment with the intent to hasten death
- perceived loss
- a loss that an individual distinctly feels as an absence, though it may not be apparent to others
- physician order for life-sustaining treatment (POLST) (also, portable medical order)
- a personal directive for medical care
- physiological death
- the state in which the body ceases to function, eventually rendering the individual unable to engage in necessary basic processes
- postmortem care
- the care provided for an individual immediately after death
- procurement
- the harvesting of organs or tissues for organ donation
- provider-assisted death
- the act of a provider prescribing the means by which a person can end their own life
- psychological death
- the state in which the individual begins to face their impending death and consequently regresses into the self
- respite care
- temporary care for an individual to provide relief to their usual caregiver
- rigor mortis
- the stiffening of the muscles in the body after death
- rumination
- the act of focusing on wrongs from the past
- situational loss
- a loss associated with expected or unexpected life changes for an individual
- societal death
- the state in which others, perhaps unable to effectively cope with the imminent loss and its implications, withdraw from the dying individual
- suicide
- death caused by intentional harm to oneself
- terminal illness
- a disease state for which no cure is known; also referred to as a life-limiting disease
- terminal weaning (also, terminal extubation)
- the removal or discontinuation of life-sustaining treatments, procedures, or devices such as a ventilator
- voluntary euthanasia
- the act of helping someone fulfill their wish to die