Life Support Measures: Types, Decisions, Benefits and Burdens
Updated: 3 days ago
Medically reviewed by *Dr. Baraa Alnahhal, MD* · Last reviewed: October 2026
Quick Answer: What are life support measures?
Life support is a group of medical treatments that replace or support a failing body function, such as mechanical ventilation, ECMO, CPR, defibrillation, artificial nutrition and kidney dialysis. These treatments may keep someone alive while the body heals or support a long-term condition. Decisions should be guided by the person's wishes, medical facts, goals and the care team. [5]
What the research says
In-hospital cardiac arrest is common, and most cases begin with a rhythm that a shock cannot treat. A JAMA review estimated that more than 290,000 adults have an in-hospital cardiac arrest each year in the United States. In US cohort data, 81% presented with a nonshockable rhythm (asystole or pulseless electrical activity), and the cause was cardiac in 50%–60% and respiratory insufficiency in 15%–40%. The authors noted limited evidence for more advanced treatments and advised against withdrawing care without definite prognostic signs (Andersen et al., JAMA, 2019). [3]
In very severe ARDS, immediate ECMO did not significantly lower 60-day mortality compared with conventional ventilation that allowed ECMO as rescue therapy. In the EOLIA trial (249 patients), 44 of 124 (35%) in the ECMO group and 57 of 125 (46%) in the control group had died by day 60 (relative risk 0.76; 95% CI 0.55–1.04; P = 0.09). About 28% of control patients crossed over to ECMO, and bleeding events leading to transfusion were more frequent with ECMO (46% vs 28%) (Combes et al., N Engl J Med, 2018). [4]
What is life support?
Life support refers to medical procedures that keep a person alive until the body can function again. The treatment replaces or supports a body function that is failing. [5]
Life support does not automatically mean that a person is dying. Some people receive support for a short-term problem and later recover enough function to no longer need it. In other situations, the body may not regain the ability to function without continued support. [5]
The phrase “life support” describes many different treatments rather than one machine or one standard plan. The relevant questions are what the treatment does, why it is being considered, what benefit may be possible and what burdens it may create.
When might life support be started?
Healthcare providers may start life support when the body needs it. They may not start it when the person asks them not to, when written legal documents decline treatment or when a legally authorized family decision declines life support on the person’s behalf. [5]
A decision to start treatment should be based on the medical situation and the person’s wishes. The care team can explain what problem the treatment is addressing, whether recovery is possible, what the treatment involves and how it may affect comfort and quality of life.
There is no single answer that fits every person. A treatment may help relieve suffering, restore function or support a meaningful recovery. The same treatment may be burdensome if it causes pain or prolongs the dying process.
When might life support be stopped?
Life support can continue for an extended period. Sometimes providers recommend continuing treatments such as dialysis or tube feeding because there is a chance of meaningful recovery even when full function has not returned. [5]
At other times, the care team may recommend ending support when there is little chance of meaningful recovery. The decision to stop a treatment is deeply personal and should be discussed with the person, loved ones and care team whenever possible. [5]
Stopping a treatment that is no longer beneficial is ethically and legally acceptable. The underlying disease or injury causes death, not the act of withdrawing a treatment. Comfort-focused care and clear communication remain important throughout the process. [5]
What are the main types of life support?
Life support can support breathing, circulation, oxygen exchange, nutrition, hydration or kidney function. The treatment used depends on which body function is failing and whether the problem may improve.
Treatment | Body function supported | What it does |
Mechanical ventilation | Breathing and lung function | Pushes air into the lungs through a breathing tube. |
ECMO | Oxygen and carbon-dioxide exchange | Circulates blood through a device that adds oxygen and removes carbon dioxide before returning blood to the body. |
CPR | Heart and breathing during arrest | Uses chest compressions, defibrillation and medicines in an effort to restart circulation and breathing. |
AED | Certain abnormal heart rhythms during cardiac arrest | Analyzes heart rhythm and may deliver a defibrillation shock. |
Artificial nutrition and hydration | Food, fluids and nutrition | Provides nutrients and fluids through a tube or an intravenous route. |
Dialysis | Kidney filtration | Removes harmful wastes and extra fluid from blood. |
How does mechanical ventilation work?
Mechanical ventilation supports or replaces the function of the lungs. A ventilator, sometimes called a respirator, pushes air into the lungs through a tube inserted through the mouth or nose and down into the trachea. This placement is called intubation. [5]
Ventilation is often used to help with a short-term problem. It may also be used for prolonged, irreversible respiratory failure, including respiratory failure associated with a spinal-cord injury or progressive neurological disease. [5]
A ventilator can move air, but it cannot correct every underlying condition. When someone is dying, mechanical ventilation may extend the dying process without improving the illness that caused the organ failure. The care team can explain whether the treatment is being used as a bridge to recovery, as longer-term support or as part of an uncertain trial of treatment.
What is ECMO?
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, is similar to mechanical ventilation but can directly exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide in place of the lungs. [5]
During ECMO, blood is continuously pumped out of the body and through a series of devices. The circuit adds oxygen and removes carbon dioxide before the blood is pumped back into the body. [5]
ECMO is a complex form of organ support. The care team considers the underlying illness, the possibility of recovery, the burdens of treatment and the person’s goals when discussing it.
What is CPR?
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is a group of treatments used when the heart and/or breathing stops. CPR may include chest compressions, electric shocks called defibrillation and medicines intended to support circulation and restart the heart and breathing.
When it is used quickly after a sudden event such as a heart attack or drowning, CPR can be life-saving. For a person at the end of a terminal disease process, the chance of meaningful recovery is extremely low. Critically ill patients who receive CPR may have only a small chance of making a meaningful recovery and leaving the hospital. [5]
The likely benefit of CPR depends heavily on why the heart or breathing stopped and on the person’s overall condition. Discussing CPR before an emergency can help the care team understand the person’s wishes.
What is an automated external defibrillator?
An automated external defibrillator, or AED, is a portable device used for certain forms of cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart rhythm does not support a pulse or adequate circulation. [5]
An AED analyzes the heart rhythm to determine whether it is beating too fast or irregularly. When an electrical shock may help, the AED delivers defibrillation to try to restore a normal rhythm. [5]
AEDs are designed for emergency use and provide spoken or visual prompts. Training can help people understand how to respond while emergency care is being activated.
What is artificial nutrition and hydration?
Artificial nutrition and hydration, sometimes called tube feeding, provides nutrients and fluids through a medical route rather than ordinary eating and drinking. [5]
A tube may pass through the nose into the stomach or directly into the stomach. When the gastrointestinal tract cannot be used normally, nutrition and fluids may be given through a vein. This intravenous approach is called total parenteral nutrition, or TPN.
Artificial nutrition and hydration can save a life while the body heals. Long-term tube feeding may be needed in irreversible or end-stage conditions, but it often does not reverse the underlying disease or improve quality of life. The care team can explain the intended goal and whether the treatment is expected to be temporary or ongoing. [5]
What is kidney dialysis?
Dialysis replaces the filtering function of injured or nonfunctioning kidneys. A dialysis machine filters harmful wastes and excess fluid from the blood, helping restore a healthier chemical balance. [5]
Dialysis is not a cure for kidney failure and does not restore the underlying function of the kidneys. If the kidneys do not work and dialysis stops, kidney failure continues. [5]
For many people, dialysis benefits and improvement in quality of life outweigh its burdens. For others, especially people who also have a terminal condition, the burdens may outweigh the benefits. The person’s values, goals and medical situation are central to this discussion.
What are the benefits and burdens of life support?
Life-support treatment can be beneficial when it relieves suffering, restores function, creates time for recovery or supports a quality of life the person values. It can also be burdensome when it causes pain, requires invasive procedures, limits communication or prolongs a dying process. [5]
The balance can change over time. A treatment that is reasonable during an emergency may become less helpful if the underlying condition is found to be irreversible. A treatment that appears burdensome at first may be worthwhile if the body is expected to recover.
Question | Why it matters |
What body function is failing? | Identifies whether the treatment is supporting breathing, circulation, oxygen exchange, nutrition, hydration or kidney function. |
What is the intended goal? | Clarifies whether the treatment aims to reverse a short-term problem, allow time for recovery or provide ongoing support. |
What recovery is possible? | Helps the person and family understand whether function might return and what uncertainty remains. |
What burdens may occur? | Includes discomfort, invasive equipment, complications, prolonged hospitalization and effects on daily life. |
What matters most to the person? | Connects medical choices with values, goals and the person’s view of an acceptable quality of life. |
What would happen if treatment were not started or were stopped? | Helps clarify likely changes, comfort needs and the role of the underlying illness. |
No single table can decide for a person. Ask the care team to explain the likely benefits, burdens and alternatives in the actual medical situation.
How are life-support decisions made?
The person receiving care should guide decisions whenever they can communicate and make medical decisions. If they cannot, the care team and legally recognized decision-makers may use the person’s known wishes, written documents and values to guide care.
Conversations are important because written documents may not address every possible medical situation. A person may explain what outcomes matter to them, which treatments they would accept for a chance of recovery and which burdens they would not want if recovery were unlikely.
Questions can be revisited as the medical situation changes. Families can ask the care team to explain the best-case, worst-case and most likely scenarios, while recognizing that no clinician can predict every outcome with certainty.
What are advance directives and written preferences?
Written legal documents can record a person’s decision to decline life support or provide guidance if they later cannot communicate. These documents work alongside conversations with loved ones and the care team.
The details and legal effect of documents vary by location. The person should use forms recognized where they live and discuss them with the appropriate healthcare, legal or care-planning professionals.
A written document is most useful when trusted people know it exists and the care team can access it when needed. The person can review preferences as health, relationships and goals change.
What is Basic Life Support?
Basic Life Support, or BLS, is emergency care that may include CPR and other techniques for cardiac arrest, respiratory distress or an obstructed airway. [5]
Anyone can learn these life-saving skills and earn BLS certification. Training can help a person respond while emergency services and professional care are being activated. [5]
BLS is not the same as a long-term decision about continuing life support. It describes emergency techniques used in the moment, while longer-term treatment decisions involve the medical situation, expected benefit, burdens and the person’s wishes.
What is Advanced Life Support?
Advanced Life Support, or ALS, includes skills beyond BLS. It emphasizes constant, high-quality CPR and adds more advanced techniques used during cardiac emergencies. [5]
ALS should be performed by healthcare professionals with more extensive training. Pediatric Advanced Life Support, or PALS, adapts life-saving techniques for babies and children, who require special care because of their size. [5]
How can families prepare for a life-support conversation?
A family conversation does not need to predict every medical event. It can begin with what the person values, what recovery would mean to them and which experiences might feel unacceptable.
During a hospital discussion, ask the team to explain the treatment in plain language. It can help to ask what the treatment is doing, what improvement would look like, how long a trial might last, what burdens to expect and what signs would lead the team to change the plan.
A family member may need support while decisions are being discussed. Ask the care team whether a social worker, ethics professional, chaplain or other support person is available if communication becomes difficult. These supports do not replace the person’s wishes or the treating team’s medical explanation.
What questions should you ask the care team about life support measures?
Topic | Questions to discuss |
Treatment | What body function is this treatment supporting or replacing? |
Goal | Is the goal recovery, temporary support or long-term organ support? |
Benefits | What improvement could this treatment make possible? |
Burdens | What discomfort, complications or restrictions might occur? |
Time | How long might we need to wait before knowing whether it is helping? |
Uncertainty | What is the best-case, worst-case and most likely outcome? |
Alternatives | What other treatments or comfort measures are available? |
Wishes | How can the person’s values and previously stated preferences guide this plan? |
Documents | Which written documents or legally recognized preferences should the team review? |
Reassessment | When will the plan be reviewed, and what changes would prompt a new discussion? |
Family support | Who can help us understand the medical information and cope with the decision? |
Conclusion
Life support is not one treatment. It is a group of medical measures that support or replace a failing body function, including ventilation, ECMO, CPR, AED defibrillation, artificial nutrition and hydration, and dialysis. [5]
These treatments may provide time for the body to heal or support a person whose organ function does not recover. The potential benefit must be weighed against the treatment’s burdens, the underlying illness, the chance of meaningful recovery and the person’s goals.
Starting, declining or stopping life support is deeply personal. Clear conversations, written preferences and careful communication with the treating team can help ensure that decisions reflect the person’s wishes as closely as possible. [5]
Frequently Asked Questions
Does life support mean someone is dying?
No. Life support may be used during a short-term illness while the body recovers. It can also be used when a person has a long-term or irreversible condition. The care team can explain what recovery may be possible in the specific situation.
What is the most common type of life support?
People often use the phrase to mean mechanical ventilation, but life support includes many treatments. Ventilation, ECMO, CPR, AED defibrillation, artificial nutrition and hydration, and dialysis all support different body functions.
Is a ventilator the same as life support?
A ventilator is one type of life support. It helps move air into the lungs through a breathing tube, while other life-support measures support circulation, oxygen exchange, nutrition, hydration or kidney filtration.
What is the difference between a ventilator and ECMO?
A ventilator moves air into the lungs. ECMO circulates blood through a device that adds oxygen and removes carbon dioxide before returning the blood to the body.
What does CPR do?
CPR uses chest compressions, defibrillation and medicines in an effort to support circulation and restart the heart and breathing after cardiac or respiratory arrest.
Can CPR always restart the heart?
No. CPR may be life-saving after a sudden event such as a heart attack or drowning, but the chance of meaningful recovery is extremely low at the end of a terminal disease process. The likely benefit depends on the medical situation.
What is tube feeding?
Tube feeding is a form of artificial nutrition and hydration. Nutrients and fluids may be delivered through a tube into the stomach or, in some situations, intravenously as total parenteral nutrition.
Is dialysis a form of life support?
Yes. Dialysis replaces the filtering function of injured or nonfunctioning kidneys by removing harmful wastes and excess fluid from the blood. It is not a cure for kidney failure.
Can a person decline life support?
A person may express a decision not to receive life support. Written legal documents may also decline treatment, and legally authorized decision-makers may sometimes act on the person’s behalf. The details depend on the person’s wishes, medical situation and applicable law.
Can life support be stopped?
A treatment may be stopped when it is no longer beneficial or when the person’s wishes and goals support stopping it. The decision should be discussed with the treating team and appropriate decision-makers. The underlying illness causes death, not the act of withdrawing treatment.
How long can someone stay on life support?
There is no single time limit. Some people need support briefly while the body heals; others may require prolonged support. The care team reassesses whether continued treatment offers a reasonable possibility of benefit.
What is a time-limited trial of life support?
A time-limited trial is a plan to continue treatment while the team watches for defined signs of improvement or worsening. The care team and decision-makers should clarify the treatment goal, review point and possible next steps. The exact plan must be individualized.
What should families ask before life support is started?
Ask what body function is failing, what the treatment is intended to accomplish, what recovery is possible, what burdens may occur, how long the team expects to reassess and how the person’s wishes should guide the decision.
What if family members disagree?
Ask the treating team to clarify the medical facts and identify the legally recognized decision-maker. Conversations should return to the person’s known values and wishes rather than a family member’s personal preference.
Where can someone learn about advance care planning?
The National Institute on Aging’s advance-care-planning guide explains conversations and written advance directives. A MedlinePlus guide to treatments that prolong life discusses ventilators, dialysis, feeding tubes and ways to think through treatment decisions.
Related guides
Related guides on life support measures cover respiratory failure and dialysis fistula access for long-term hemodialysis.
References
National Library of Medicine. Deciding about treatments that prolong life. MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. Reviewed January 14, 2026; updated by Linda J. Vorvick, MD. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000468.htm
National Institute on Aging. Advance Care Planning: Advance Directives for Health Care. National Institute on Aging (NIA). Content reviewed October 31, 2022. https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/advance-care-planning/advance-care-planning-advance-directives-health-care
Andersen LW, Holmberg MJ, Berg KM, et al. In-hospital cardiac arrest: a review. JAMA. 2019;321(12):1200-1210. PMID 30912843. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.1696
Combes A, Hajage D, Capellier G, et al. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. N Engl J Med. 2018;378(21):1965-1975. PMID 29791822. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1800385
Cleveland Clinic. What is Life Support? Life Support Measures. Cleveland Clinic. Last updated June 20, 2022. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/12362-life-support-measures
Disclaimer
This article is for general educational purposes and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of a qualified healthcare professional with any questions about a medical condition or treatment.
The treating team and legally recognized decision-makers should tailor life-support decisions to the person’s medical condition, wishes, values, documents, expected benefits, treatment burdens and applicable law. Do not use this article to start, stop, decline or withhold a treatment.
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