terminal wean
n.— «In twelve cases they performed a procedure called, in only mildly obscurantist language, a “terminal wean.” (Although neither doctors nor nurses literally “pull the plug,” the process is dramatic enough. After a doctor or, more often, a nurse turns down the respirator setting, death usually follows quickly, most often in an hour or two.)» —by Robert Zussman Intensive Care : Medical Ethics and the Medical Profession July 15, 1992. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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