Life support - Definition and Overview

Life support is a term for a set of therapies to preserve a patient's life when essential bodily systems are not working well enough to be relied upon. Life support therapies utilize some combination of several techniques: enteric feeding, intravenous drips, total parenteral nutrition, mechanical respiration, heart/lung bypass, defibrillation, urinary catheterization and dialysis. The same techniques are also used for intensive care, though life support is concerned with stabilizing a patient rather than healing them.

In some cases, skilled nursing care can substitute for one of the above radical therapies, and is almost always preferable if it can be relied upon. For example, some hospitals routinely train nurses to attach oxygen equipment to a patient's preferred breathing orifice, while others limit it to a nose cannula — the cannula is safer from fire than a tent and requires less care than a mask.

In general, enteric feeding ("tube feeding") is preferable to total parenteral nutrition. Urinary catheterization is preferable to dialysis. Mechanical ventilation or defibrillation are preferable to cardiac bypass, and can sometimes substitute for it.

Some consider the practice of prolonging the life of someone who will not recover to be unethical.

See also

• basic life support
• advanced cardiac life support
• Uniform Rights of the Terminally Ill Act