What is palliative care — is it the same thing as end-of-life care?
A major priority of Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Pain and Palliative Care Service is the incorporation of the principles of palliative care into the care of all patients with cancer from the time of diagnosis, not only in the setting of advanced or terminal disease. Palliative care treatment: • Affirms life and regards death as a normal process. • Neither hastens nor postpones death. • Provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms. • Integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care. • Offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death. • Offers a support system to help the family cope during the patient’s illness and in their bereavement. Q. I take pain medications around the clock, and sometimes this means I have to wake myself up several times during the night to take a pill. Can this be handled differently? Yes, very probably. It may be possible for your pain physician to switch you to a different form of your medication or t
