A Consideration of Clinical Causal Chains in a Medical Ontology

Abstract

This article discusses the ontological treatment of diseases. We define a disease as a dependent continuant constituted of one or more causal chains of clinical disorders. We introduce the core ideas of a disease as causal chain. Then, to clarify the ontological meaning of causal chains, we introduce two kinds of processes: a cumulative continuous process and a non-cumulative process. They are accounted for based on a new ontological theory of objects and processes.