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Guides through decision to receive artificial hydration and nutrition if you have a life-threatening or terminal illness. Describes various feeding-tube methods. Discusses benefits and risks. Includes interactive tool to help you make your decision.
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A good first step to choosing a nursing home is to make a list of homes you might be interested in. Talk to family, friends, doctors, and others to get recommendations of good nursing homes. Visit several nursing homes with your family. Most nursing homes have an admissions coordinator who...
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Cranial ultrasound uses reflected sound waves to make pictures of the brain and its inner fluid chambers (ventricles). Cerebrospinal fluid flows through these chambers. This test is most commonly done on babies. Cranial ultrasound for babies Cranial ultrasound can only be done on babies before the bones of the skull...
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Guides through decision to stop kidney dialysis for kidney failure. Covers key factors in decision. Covers benefits and risks. Discusses what happens after dialysis is stopped. Offers interactive tool to help you make your decision.
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Physician-assisted death is a practice by which doctors provide the means for a person with a terminal illness to voluntarily cause their own death. In most cases, the doctor prescribes lethal doses of medicine. The doctor indirectly takes part in the person's death. But the doctor does not directly cause...
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A ventriculogram is a test that shows images of your heart. The images show how well your heart is pumping. The pictures let your doctor check the health of the lower chambers of your heart, called ventricles. This test can be done as a noninvasive test or as part of...
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A chemistry screen is a blood test that measures the levels of several substances in the blood (such as electrolytes). A chemistry screen tells your doctor about your general health, helps look for certain problems, and finds out whether treatment for a specific problem is working. Some chemistry screens look...
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A CT scan uses X-rays to make detailed pictures of the spine and vertebrae. During the test, you will lie on a table that is attached to the CT scanner, which is a large doughnut-shaped machine. The CT scanner sends X-rays through the body. Each rotation of the scanner takes...
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The slit lamp exam uses a tool that provides a magnified, three-dimensional (3-D) view of the parts of the eye. During the exam, your doctor can look at the front parts of the eye. These parts include the clear, outer covering (cornea), the lens, and the colored part (iris). The...
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A facial X-ray is a series of pictures of the bones in the face. One type of facial X-ray (called a paranasal sinus X-ray series) looks at the air-filled cavities (sinuses) around the nose and eyes. A facial X-ray helps find bone fractures, tumors, foreign objects, infections, and abnormal growths...