life-support system

1. Equipment that creates a viable environment under conditions otherwise incompatible with life.

2. Medical equipment that augments or substitutes for an essential bodily function, such as respiration, enabling a patient who otherwise might not survive to live.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	life-support system - equipment that makes life possible in otherwise deadly environmental conditions; "the astronauts relied on their life-support systems" life support equipment - an instrumentality needed for an undertaking or to perform a service
	2.	life-support system - medical equipment that assists or replaces important bodily functions and so enables a patient to live who otherwise might not survive; "the patient is on life support" life support equipment - an instrumentality needed for an undertaking or to perform a service

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

The mother's life-support system was turned off after the birth.

Baby born to brain-dead mother in Czech Republic

Arun Jaitley was admitted into AIIMS' intensive care unit (ICU) and was treated by a multi-disciplinary team of doctors after he complained of uneasiness; he was put on life-support system after his condition deteriorated.

Arun Jaitley, former finance minister and BJP stalwart, dies at 66

Summary: New Delhi (India) [India], Aug 16 (ANI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to enquire about the health of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who is on a life-support system. This is the Prime Minister's second visit to the hospital in less than 24 hours.

Vajpayee in AIIMS: Politicians make beeline to hospital

The defender's top-flight club Lokeren said his condition worsened before his family agreed to switch off the life-support system.

Professional footballer dies after heart attack at game

Leonov spent 20 minutes in space, 10 of them floating free from the capsule except for a slim 16-foot tether connecting him to the spacecraft's life-support system...."

May 1965

The woman was taken to hospital by ambulance where police yesterday said she remained in a "very critical condition" on a life-support system.

Woman hit by car remains critical

The father of an Australian tourist beaten to death outside a nightclub in Greece expressed his frustration yesterday at a decision to release three of those charged on bail."These three men are walking outside when my son is lying dead," Oliver Zammit, who took the decision to switch off his son's life-support system in an Athens hospital on Friday, told Greek channel Net TV."These three men didn't get to Mykonos to help my son, these three men were there to hurt my son," he stated."I'd just like to appeal to all the mothers and fathers all over the world to understand ...

VictimAAEs dad slams release

Though doctors fought for more than 30 hours to save Jack, his parents Heather and Dave Welch were left with the agonising decision to turn off his life-support system on June 24.

Family say farewell to fun-loving toddler; The world today

The victim is in a critical condition and on a life-support system

DID YOU KNOW?

If that consultative body agrees that there is no reasonable possibility of Karen's ever emerging from her present comatose condition to a cognitive, sapient state, the present life-support system may be withdrawn ..." (3)

The hospital ethics committee--then and now