life support system
Critical care machinery
A life support system is equipment that maintains vital functions when the body cannot sustain them independently—typically breathing and circulation.
In hospitals, patients may be on life support after severe trauma or during surgery.
The term extends to any apparatus sustaining life in hostile environments: spacecraft life support systems provide oxygen, remove carbon dioxide, and regulate temperature.
Figuratively, something serving as a life support system is essential to continued existence: Coffee is my life support system.
- ventilatorMechanical breathing apparatus
- iron lungBody-encasing mechanical respirator
- oxygenElement eight, colorless gas
- ICUAcute care ward
- breathingPulmonary gas exchange
hospital · machines · critical · tubes · monitor · heartbeat · coma · plug in · pull the plug · respirator · beeping · flat line · survival · astronaut · spacecraft · space station · ecosystem · biosphere
- Apollo hardwarecommand module, lunar module, Saturn V, service module, lunar rover
- enclosurescage, pen, box, enclosure, case
- Soviet TechnologySputnik, MiG, Kalashnikov, AK-47, Soyuz
life support systemassisted suicide
Helping someone end life
do not resuscitate · euthanasia · lethal injection · gas chamber · withdrawal of care
life support systemindependent living
Managing without assistance
self-sustaining · self-regulation · able-bodied · self-sufficient · off the grid
life support systemhostile environment
Surroundings posing active threats
death trap · vacuum of space · kill zone · hazardous conditions · death zone
support, system, lively, liveliness, lifelong, lifetime, lifeless, lifelike, lifeline