There is agreement that patients with life-threatening illnesses, including progressive malignancies, need appropriate therapy and treatment throughout the course of illness. At one stage, therapy is directed toward assessment and intervention in order to control and/or to cure such illness and alleviate associated symptoms. For some persons, however, the time comes when cure and remission are beyond current medical expertise. It is then that the intervention must shift to what is now often termed 'palliative treatment,' which is designed to control pain in the broadest sense and provide personal support for patients and family during the terminal phase of illness. In general, palliative care requires limited use of apparatus and technology, extensive personal care, and an ordering of the physical and social environment to be therapeutic in itself.…
