A document that indicates what medical intervention an individual prefers if he or she is not conscious when a decision is to be expressed. For example, some do not want to be given mechanical breathing.

A situation in which circumstances, such as a police investigation or an autopsy, interfere with the process of grieving.

A situation in which an action (such as administering opiates) has both a positive effect (relieving a terminally ill person’s pain) and a negative effect (hastening death by suppressing respiration).

Care designed not to treat an illness but to provide physical and emotional comfort to the patient and support and guidance to his or her family.

The ceremonies and behaviors that a religion or culture prescribes for people to employ in expressing their bereavement after a death.

Any description of what people want to happen as they die and after they die. This can include medical measures, choosing whom to allow as visitors, funeral arrangements, cremation, and so on.

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.

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

A form of active euthanasia in which a doctor provides the means for someone to end his or her own life.

A written order from a physician (sometimes initiated by a patient’s advance directive or by a health care proxy’s request) that no attempt should be made to revive a patient if he or she suffers cardiac or respiratory arrest.

A person chosen by another person to make medical decisions if the second person becomes unable to do so.

A situation in which a seriously ill person is allowed to die naturally, through the cessation of medical intervention.

The idea that people adopt cultural values and moral principles in order to cope with their fear of death. This system of beliefs protects individuals from anxiety about their mortality and bolsters their self-esteem, so they react harshly when other people go against any of the moral principles involved.

A situation in which someone takes action to bring about another person’s death, with the intention of ending that person’s suffering.

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

A situation in which mourners do not grieve, either because other people do not allow grief to be expressed or because the mourners do not allow themselves to feel sadness.

The argument that a given action will start a chain of events that will culminate in an undesirable outcome.

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