double effect

double effect
 n.— «Palliative care, though improved, is not always effective. It is an open secret that many doctors hasten the deaths of patients in pain and misery under the guise of relieving their symptoms, a procedure known as “the double effect.”» —“Life or death decisions” The Herald (Glasgow, Scotland) Mar. 28, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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Further reading

Fair to Middling, Like Decent Livestock

A Havertown, Pennsylvania, listener wonders why her mother used to answer queries about how she was doing with phrase that sounded like either fair to midland or fair to middling. Middling has long meant “just OK” or “right in the middle,” and the...