Incompatible with life
{{Short description|Circumstances that render life impossible}}
The term incompatible with life is used in circumstances of injury or developmental disorder that render life impossible.
Injury and death
Examples of injuries incompatible with life are decapitation or gross dismemberment. Other circumstances that are regarded as self-evidently incompatible with life include traumatic hemicorporectomy, decomposition, incineration, hypostasis and rigor mortis; in these circumstances, paramedics and other similar workers may be allowed to regard a person as dead in the absence of a physician.{{Cite web |date=October 2006 |title=Recognition of Life Extinct by Ambulance Clinicians |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/med/research/hsri/emergencycare/prehospitalcare/jrcalcstakeholderwebsite/guidelines/recognition_of_life_extinct_by_ambulance_clinicians_2006.pdf |website=warwick.ac.uk}}{{Cite journal |last1=Hopson |first1=Laura R. |last2=Hirsh |first2=Emily |last3=Delgado |first3=Joao |last4=Domeier |first4=Robert M. |last5=McSwain |first5=Norman E. Jr |last6=Krohmer |first6=Jon |date=January 2003 |title=Guidelines for Withholding or Termination of Resuscitation in Prehospital Traumatic Cardiopulmonary Arrest: Joint Position Statement of the National Association of EMS Physicians and the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma |url=https://journals.lww.com/journalacs/citation/2003/01000/guidelines_for_withholding_or_termination_of.18.aspx |journal=Journal of the American College of Surgeons |language=en-US |volume=196 |issue=1 |pages=106–112 |doi=10.1016/S1072-7515(02)01668-X |pmid=12517561 |issn=1879-1190}}
Fetal abnormality
Developmental disorders are considered incompatible with life when essential structures or biological functions necessary for the preservation of life are not formed; they may result in spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, or neonatal death. Examples of conditions generally considered incompatible with life include Potter's syndrome and anencephaly.{{Cite journal |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Dominic |last2=de Crespigny |first2=Lachlan |last3=Xafis |first3=Vicki |date=October 2014 |title=Ethical language and decision-making for prenatally diagnosed lethal malformations |journal=Seminars in Fetal & Neonatal Medicine |volume=19 |issue=5 |pages=306–311 |doi=10.1016/j.siny.2014.08.007 |issn=1744-165X |pmc=4339700 |pmid=25200733}} Where disorders incompatible with life are found before birth, patients may elect to have an induced abortion.{{Cite journal |last1=Costa |first1=Lúcia de Lourdes Ferreira da |last2=Hardy |first2=Ellen |last3=Osis |first3=Maria José Duarte |last4=Faúndes |first4=Anibal |date=2005 |title=Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality Incompatible with Life: Women's Experiences in Brazil |journal=Reproductive Health Matters |volume=13 |issue=26 |pages=139–146 |doi=10.1016/S0968-8080(05)26198-0 |jstor=3776485 |pmid=16291495 |s2cid=10782601 |issn=0968-8080|doi-access=free }}
The definition of which conditions are incompatible with life can change as medicine advances, such as where medical techniques have made it possible for some people born with some conditions generally regarded as incompatible with life such as Potter's syndrome to survive.{{Cite web |date=2023-10-10 |title=Herrera Beutler's 'miracle baby' gets kidney |url=https://www.columbian.com/news/2016/feb/10/herrera-beutlers-miracle-baby-gets-kidney/ |access-date=2023-10-14 |website=The Columbian |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2014-08-23 |title=Survival of Rep. Herrera Beutler's child a celebrated case study |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/survival-of-rep-herrera-beutlerrsquos-child-a-celebrated-case-study/ |access-date=2023-10-14 |website=The Seattle Times |language=en-US}} There have even been extremely rare cases of short-term survival into infancy with conditions as severe as anencephaly.{{Cite journal |last1=Dickman |first1=Holly |last2=Fletke |first2=Kyle |last3=Redfern |first3=Roberta E |date=2016-10-31 |title=Prolonged unassisted survival in an infant with anencephaly |journal=BMJ Case Reports |volume=2016 |pages=bcr2016215986 |doi=10.1136/bcr-2016-215986 |issn=1757-790X |pmc=5093842 |pmid=27799226}} However, others remain beyond help.