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Terminal illness is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer or advanced heart disease than for trauma. In popular use, it indicates a disease that eventually ends the life of the sufferer. A patient who has such an illness may be referred to as a terminal patient, terminally ill or simply terminal. Often, a patient is considered terminally ill when their estimated life expectancy is six months or less, under the assumption that the disease will run its normal course. The six-month standard is arbitrary, and best available estimates of longevity may be incorrect. Consequently, though a given patient may properly be considered terminal, this is not a guarantee that the patient will die within six months. Similarly, a patient with a slowly progressing disease, such as AIDS, may not be considered terminally ill because the best estimates of longevity were greater than six months. However this does not guarantee that the patient will not die unexpectedly early. In general, physicians slightly overestimate the survival time of terminally ill cancer patients, so that, for example, a person who is expected to live for about six weeks would likely die around four weeks. == Stages == Different patients react to the news that they have a terminal illness in different ways. In general, almost all patients go through various stages of acceptance when a disease like cancer has been diagnosed. The first stage is disbelief. Most people are shocked that it could happen to them, there is extreme anxiety especially about the unknown. Shock, despair and anger are common. There is also guilt that perhaps the person has done something wrong to receive such a diagnosis.〔University of Virginia Health System. ("Coping with terminal cancer" ) 2010-02-09.〕 Some individuals use humor as a psychological defense mechanism; others become helpless and often start to bargain. This first stage usually lasts from a few days to many months. The second stage is depression, which is usually a reaction to the diagnosis. The depression is mild to moderate in intensity and needs family support. Only in rare cases is any type of medical therapy required. Duration of depression often can last several weeks to throughout the illness. The goal is to help the person go into the final stage of acceptance. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Terminal illness」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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