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Get Informed:
Life-sustaining Procedures

An important part of your advance planning process should be about developing a greater understanding about life support options. This will allow you to make more informed decisions about the treatments and procedures you do or do not want.

What do I need to know about life-sustaining procedures?

Artificial life support replaces or supports a failing bodily function. It may be used temporarily for patients until their curable or treatable condition is stabilized and the body can resume normal function. There are times, however, when the body never regains the ability to function without artificial life support.

A treatment can be beneficial or burdensome, depending upon the circumstances. It may be beneficial if it relieves suffering, restores functioning or improves the quality of life. On the other hand, the same treatment can be burdensome if it causes pain, prolongs the dying process without offering benefit, or adds to the individual's perception of a diminished quality of life.

Each of us has the right to choose or refuse these medical procedures and those individual choices need to be reflected through advance directives.

Commonly used life support measures include:

Artificial nutrition and hydration replaces or supplements ordinary eating and drinking by giving a chemically balanced blend of nutrients and fluids through a tube placed directly into the stomach or upper intestine or intravenously. While long-term artificial nutrition and hydration can save lives while a body heals, it is also frequently given to people with irreversible and end-stage diseases and conditions. Some health care providers may not agree with either administering or withdrawing artificial nutrition and hydration, so it is important to discuss this with loved ones and doctors and state your wishes in your advance directive.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, is used in an attempt to restart the heart and breathing when it has ceased. CPR treatments include mouth-to-mouth breathing, pressing on the chest to cause blood to circulate, or the application of electric shock or drugs to stimulate the heart. It can save lives in the event of sudden heart attacks or drowning, but can be of limited success for those at the end of a terminal disease process. If you are in the hospital, and there are certain circumstances under which you would not wish to receive CPR, your physician must write a separate DNR (Do-Not-Resuscitate) order on your chart.

Mechanical ventilation supports or replaces the breathing function by forcing air into the lungs. A ventilator or respirator machine is often used to assist with short-term problems, but it can allow some people to enjoy a better quality of life for prolonged periods. For a dying patient, however, the use of a ventilator may simply prolong the dying process, supplying oxygen but not improving any underlying conditions or disease. When you talk to loved ones or physicians about your end-of-life wishes, clarify whether you want mechanical ventilation should you not be able to breathe again on your own or expect to regain a certain quality of life.