Terminal illness is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and that is reasonably expected to result in the death of the patient within a short period of time. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer or advanced heart disease than for trauma. In popular use, it indicates a disease that eventually ends the life of the sufferer.

A patient who has such an illness may be referred to as a terminal patient, terminally ill or simply terminal. Often, a patient is considered terminally ill when their estimated life expectancy is six months or less, under the assumption that the disease will run its normal course. The six-month standard is arbitrary, and best available estimates of longevity may be incorrect. Consequently, though a given patient may properly be considered terminal, this is not a guarantee that the patient will die within six months. Similarly, a patient with a slowly progressing disease, such as AIDS, may not be considered terminally ill because the best estimates of longevity were greater than six months. However, this does not guarantee that the patient will not die unexpectedly early. In general, physicians slightly overestimate the survival time of terminally ill cancer patients, so that, for example, a person who is expected to live for about six weeks would likely die around four weeks.

One part of Social Issues is the Anti-Abortion movements or pro-life movements have been in the limelight over the past few years. This topic has become a hot debate amongst masses and the United States pro-choice movement is a socio-political movement is of the view that women should have the legal right to go for abortion. In other words, it can be said that women has the right to terminate her pregnancy without any if's and but's.

Another topic that has come to light is same sex marriages to be legalized or not. The legalization of same sex marriages is accepted in few states, whereas other states ensure that there is no adherence to legalization of same sex marriages. Moreover, it is seen that people moving from one state to another to ensure they live peacefully with their same sex partners. There are indications that proceedings might come in favor of same sex marriages.

Another social issue that people argue about is the death penalty. Seasoned criminals have always been able to protect themselves from the fear of capital punishment or death penalty. They are able to come under the shelter is due to the reason that many countries have abolished this type of punishment and many are under the pressure of human rights commission to omit it. However, three dozens of countries do participate in this severe punishment. Death penalty is still a debatable topic in this globe.