What is
palliative care?
by Gina Shaw
Which of these two people should be receiving palliative care?
1. A 75-year-old man with
advanced pancreatic cancer,
whose doctor has told him he
may live only another three or
four months.
2. A 45-year-old woman whose
relapsing-remitting MS has
advanced to secondary-progressive MS.
If you’re like most people, you
answered “1.” But, in fact, both
of these people should be receiving palliative care.
Quality of life, not end of life
Many people assume that palliative is just another word for
hospice and is only needed or
available during the last stages of
a terminal illness. Hospice care is
one form of palliative care, offering specialty services at the end of
life. But there is more.
“Palliative care is about
helping someone be as healthy,
independent, functional and
comfortable as they can be
despite disease, including a
chronic, progressive disorder
like MS,” said Sandra Lowery,
RN, CCM, CRRN, CNLCP,
a case manager with Home
LINKS, a short-term care management program offered by the
Greater New England Chapter
of the National MS Society.
Palliative care, often
confused with end-of-life
care, is really about quality
of life.
“In fact, treatment and care for
people with MS is always palliative care, because this is not
a curable diagnosis. Ideally, it
Challenges
begins at day one and continues
throughout a person’s life.”
Services tailored to the
individual
Palliative care becomes particu-
larly significant for people with
MS if their disease is progress-
ing, perhaps even while taking
a disease-modifying therapy, or
if their medications don’t seem
