Palliative Care at the End of Life

There is common misconception that if someone is receiving palliative care, it means that treatments to slow the progress of their disease would be stopped. Research has shown the opposite to be true: earlier palliative care can lead to better quality of life throughout the entire process from the time of being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.

We know patients should receive palliative care much earlier than they often do. In the past, the approach to palliative care was that it wouldn’t begin until the very latest stages of the illness or often not at all. The newer approach to palliative care (sometimes also called “hospice palliative care,” regardless of where it takes place) is that it can begin immediately after the patient is diagnosed with a life-threatening condition. Under this approach, palliative care is an undercurrent throughout the patient’s care.