Question

Discuss the following concepts: preservation of life with limits, euthanasia, advance directives, the futility of treatment, withholding and withdrawal of treatment, and do-not-resuscitate orders.

Answer 1

Euthanasia, also called mercy killing, act or practice of painlessly putting to death persons suffering from painful and incurable disease or incapacitating physical disorder or allowing them to die by withholding treatment or withdrawing artificial life-support measures

An advance directive is a legal document that explains how you want medical decisions about you to be made if you cannot make the decisions yourself. An advance directive lets your health care team and loved ones know what kind of health care you want, or who you want to make decisions for you when you can't

Futile care is treatment given to a patient whose condition leaves no possibility of medical benefit from it, making no difference in the outcome for the patient and placing a greater burden on the patient and/or the family

withholding treatment and withdrawing treatment refer to actions taken by health care providers, the actual decision to decline or discontinue treatment rests with the patient or the patient's family or substitute decision-maker

A do-not-resuscitate order (DNR), also known as no code or allow natural death, is a legal order, written or oral, indicating that a person does not want to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if that person's heart stops beating