Canadian Medical Guide > Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment > Therapeutics > Patient Care > Terminal Care Terms and Definitions

Terminal Care

Medical Definition:	Medical and nursing care of patients in the terminal stage of an illness.
Guide Notes:	med & nurs care for the patient: TERMINALLY ILL refers to the patient; also available is HOSPICE CARE (palliative & supportive care for the patient & family)

Terminal Care Categories.

	Euthanasia - The act or practice of killing or allowing death from natural causes, for reasons of mercy, i.e., in order to release a person from incurable disease, intolerable suffering, or undignified death. (from Beauchamp and Walters, Contemporary Issues in Bioethics, 5th ed)
	Hospice Care - Specialized health care, supportive in nature, provided to a dying person. A holistic approach is often taken, providing patients and their families with legal, financial, emotional, or spiritual counseling in addition to meeting patients' immediate physical needs. Care may be provided in the home, in the hospital, in specialized facilities (HOSPICES), or in specially designated areas of long-term care facilities. The concept also includes bereavement care for the family. (From Dictionary of Health Services Management, 2d ed)
	Suicide, Assisted - Provision (by a physician or other health professional, or by a family member or friend) of support and/or means that gives a patient the power to terminate his or her own life. (from APA, Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms, 8th ed).

Terminal Care Medical Definitions and Terms

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