English for Social Workers: Birth, abortion, and dying

Birth, abortion, and dying – Study material

Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring. The offspring is brought forth from the mother.

Childbirth is the process at the end of a human pregnancy that results in a baby being born.
Natural childbirth is the technique of minimizing medical intervention, particularly anaesthetics, during childbirth.
Unassisted childbirth (UC) is birth without the aid of medical or professional birth attendants. Also known as freebirth.
Multiple birth is the birth of two (twins), three (triplets), four (quadruplets), etc., babies resulting from a single pregnancy.
Birth canal is the term used for the vagina during birth, as it is the route through which the infant passes during a vaginal birth.
Caesarean section or C-Section is surgical birth through the wall of the abdomen.
Birth pangs are the pains felt by the mother during labour, resulting from contractions of the uterus and pressure on nerves and organs.

Birth control methods are devices, medications or behaviour patterns to reduce the probability of pregnancy.

Placenta is the organ in most mammals that provides the nourishment of the foetus and the elimination of its waste products.

Midwife is the term for a health care provider that provides at home health care for expecting mothers, delivers baby during birth, and provides postpartum care.

Birth doula is the term for a labour assistant that provides emotional support, physical comfort measures, and other assistance to expecting mothers, partners, families, and baby before, during, and after childbirth. A postpartum doula provides support after birth, and specializes in postpartum care for mother and infant, infant attachment, and other newborn care.

Complications

Infertility treatments are devices, medications, or behaviours patterns to increase the probability of pregnancy.

Premature birth is the birth of an infant before the full term of pregnancy.

Birth defect is a physical or mental abnormality present at the time of birth.

Stillbirth is the birth of a dead foetus or infant.

Birth trauma is a theory in Pre & Perinatal psychology and natural medicine that the baby experiences extreme pain during the birthing process and that this pain influences the child later in life.

Complications may cause a miscarriage or spontaneous abortion to occur.

Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion of a foetus or embryo from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death. An abortion can occur spontaneously due to complications during pregnancy or can be induced, in humans and other species. In the context of human pregnancies, an abortion induced to preserve the health of the gravida (pregnant female) is termed a therapeutic abortion, while an abortion induced for any other reason is termed an elective abortion. The term abortion most commonly refers to the induced abortion of a human pregnancy, while spontaneous abortions are usually termed miscarriages.

Reason for abortion: family size, financial issues, genetic factors, mental health reasons, my age (too young or old), my education, my personal reasons for not wanting a child, physical health reasons, problems with my relationship, rape/incest

Euthanasia refers to the practice of ending a life in a manner which relieves pain and suffering. Euthanasia is categorized in different ways, which include voluntary, non-voluntary, or involuntary and active or passive. Euthanasia is usually used to refer to active euthanasia, and in this sense, euthanasia is usually considered to be criminal homicide, but voluntary, passive euthanasia is widely non-criminal.

Voluntary euthanasia – is conducted with the consent of the patient. Voluntary euthanasia is legal in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington. When the patient brings about his or her own death with the assistance of a physician, the term assisted suicide is often used instead.
Non-voluntary euthanasia – is conducted where the consent of the patient is unavailable. Examples include child euthanasia, which is illegal worldwide but decriminalised under certain specific circumstances in the Netherlands under the Groningen Protocol.
Involuntary euthanasia – is conducted against the will of the patient.

Death is the termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism.

Causes of death in humans as a result of intentional activity include suicide, homicide and war. From all causes, roughly 150,000 people die around the world each day.

Physiological death is now seen as less an event than a process: conditions once considered indicative of death are now reversible. Where in the process a dividing line is drawn between life and death depends on factors beyond the presence or absence of vital signs. In general, clinical death is neither necessary nor sufficient for a determination of legal death. A patient with working heart and lungs determined to be brain dead can be pronounced legally dead without clinical death occurring. Precise medical definition of death, in other words, becomes more problematic, paradoxically, as scientific knowledge and medicine advance.