life support

noun

: medical equipment, treatments, or medications that temporarily replace or support the function of one or more failing organs in a seriously ill or injured patient and that provide an opportunity for stabilization or recovery

The patient was placed on life support.

A mechanical pump that was invented as a temporary life support for patients with advanced heart failure is emerging as a potential tool to help hearts heal and function for the long term on their own.

—Ron Winslow

The current pediatric and adult life support recommendations suggest an epinephrine administration interval … of 3–5 minutes during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

—Donald H. Shaffner and Clifton W. Callaway

—sometimes hyphenated when used before another noun

life-support equipment

life-support measures

Examples of life support in a Sentence

He was removed from life support.

She was put on life support.

equipment providing life support for astronauts

Recent Examples on the Web

Now, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency is on life support, after major donors suspended funding in January in the wake of allegations that a dozen of the agency’s 13,000 employees in Gaza took part in the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7. —Claire Parker, Washington Post, 8 Apr. 2024

Luca was born limp and barely breathing, with a hole in his heart and pulmonary hypertension and transferred from a small hospital in Alabama to a larger facility, where he was put on life support for 10 days. —Virginia Chamlee, Peoplemag, 4 Apr. 2024

The move put the project back on track after months on life support following Barrera’s firing and the subsequent exit of director Landon, as well as the quiet departure of Jenna Ortega in the spring of last year. —Ryan Gajewski, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Mar. 2024

Just three days after Maisie Schmidt was taken to a hospital as her cold symptoms worsened, the 4-year-old girl was taken off life support, her Ohio family said. —Mike Stunson, Kansas City Star, 27 Mar. 2024

On March 18, 2023, Angela Craig was taken off life support. —Natalie Morales, CBS News, 24 Mar. 2024

Problems still to be solved include figuring out life support systems and how to land the spacecraft in one piece. —Laurence Darmiento, Los Angeles Times, 14 Mar. 2024

By this time, Angela Craig was on life support, and the outlook was grim. —Sarah Prior, CBS News, 22 Mar. 2024

Vieyra, then 19, was declared brain dead and put on life support, later spending 266 days in the Patton state mental hospital, according to court records. —Cindy Chang, Los Angeles Times, 20 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1974, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

life support

noun

: medical equipment, treatments, or medications used to temporarily replace or support the function of one or more failing organs in a seriously ill or injured patient and that provide an opportunity for stabilization or recovery

Extracorporeal life support … is used to support the circulation of a patient with severe cardiac failure. The physiologic objective is to provide temporary circulatory support to the vital organs and to unload the failing heart as the injured myocardium attempts to recover.

—Massimo Massetti et al., The Annals of Thoracic Surgery

Most of the patients from whom support was withheld or withdrawn had intracranial lesions, usually the result of trauma. A poor prognosis or brain death prompted the withholding or withdrawal of life support in most patients.

—Nicholas G. Smedira et al., The New England Journal of Medicine

—sometimes hyphenated when used before another noun

The principles of medical ethics permit active, direct euthanasia … as well as passive and indirect forms. The latter include withholding or removing life-support measures, administering effective pain controls that often hasten death, and assisting patients in suicide.

—Susan S. Mattingly, The New England Journal of Medicine