What is Hospice Palliative Care?

As it is currently defined, the term hospice palliative care refers to the physical, emotional, social and spiritual care aimed at providing comfort and improving “quality of life for those persons who are living with or dying from advanced illness.” Hospice palliative care is based on a commitment to the whole person.

In British Columbia, hospice palliative care is defined as the combination of active and compassionate therapies intended to comfort and support individuals and families who are living with a life-threatening illness. During periods of illness and bereavement, hospice palliative care may be combined with therapies aimed at reducing or curing illness, or it may be the total focus of care.

Hospice palliative care strives to meet, through patient-directed supportive interventions, the physical, social and spiritual needs of patients and families, with sensitivity to their personal, cultural and religious beliefs.

The difference between standard medical care and hospice palliative care is not the difference between treating and doing nothing. The difference is in the priorities. In ordinary medicine, the goal is to extend life – to sacrifice the quality of your existence now – by performing surgery, providing chemotherapy, putting you in intensive care – for the chance of gaining time later. Hospice palliative care deploys nurses, doctors, social workers, other professionals and volunteers to help people with a fatal illness have the fullest possible lives right now. That means focusing on objectives like freedom from pain and discomfort, or maintaining mental awareness for as long as possible, or getting out with family once in a while.*

*Gawande, Atul. ”Letting Go”. The New Yorker. August 2, 2010.