Death and Dying

This set of flashcards covers key vocabulary and concepts surrounding the topics of death, dying, grief, and cultural responses to these concepts.

Terror Management Theory

The idea that people adopt cultural values and moral principles in order to cope with their fear of death.

Hospice

An institution or program in which terminally ill patients receive palliative care to reduce suffering; family and friends of the dying are helped as well.

Palliative Care

Medical treatment designed primarily to provide physical and emotional comfort to the dying patient and guidance to their loved ones.

Double Effect

An action (such as administering opiates) that has both a positive effect (relieving a terminally ill person’s pain) and a negative effect (hastening death by suppressing respiration).

Passive Euthanasia

When a seriously ill person is allowed to die naturally, without active attempts to prolong life.

DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) Order

A written order from a physician instructing medical staff not to restore breathing or restart the heart if the patient suffers cardiac or respiratory arrest.

POLST (Physician-Ordered Life-Sustaining Treatment)

An order from a doctor regarding end-of-life care that specifies which treatments should be used and which should not.

Active Euthanasia

Deliberate action to cause death, such as taking a lethal drug to end suffering.

Physician-Assisted Suicide

A form of active euthanasia in which a doctor provides the means for patients to end their own lives, usually by prescribing lethal medication.

Advance Directives

Any description of what a person wants to happen as they die and after death, including medical measures and funeral arrangements.

Living Will

A document that indicates what medical intervention an individual prefers if they are not conscious when a decision is to be expressed.

Health Care Proxy

A person chosen to make medical decisions if a patient is unable to do so, as when in a coma.

Grief

The deep sorrow that people feel at the death of another; it is personal and unpredictable.

Complicated Grief

A type of grief that impedes a person’s future life, usually because the person clings to sorrow or is buffeted by contradictory emotions.

Absent Grief

When mourners do not grieve, either because others do not allow expressions of grief or because the mourners do not allow themselves to feel sadness.

Disenfranchised Grief

A situation in which certain people, although bereaved, are prevented from mourning publicly by cultural customs or social restrictions.

Incomplete Grief

When circumstances, such as an autopsy or police investigation, interfere with the process of grieving.

Mourning

The ceremonies and behaviors that a religion or culture prescribes for people to express their grief after a death.

Continuing Bonds

The ongoing attachment and connection that the living have with the dead, which can help or hinder ongoing life.