Good article on palliative care

[Neil Cuadra]

A front-page article in the Los Angeles Times tells the story of Elvin Flynn, a 78-year-old MDS patient, and Dr. David Wallenstein, his palliative care specialist.

Palliative care is targeted toward a patient's symptoms rather than his or her disease. It deals with comfort. Although Mr. Flynn's MDS has become terminal, palliative care isn't limited to the final stages of life and doesn't mean the end of other treatment. The choice to seek care for pain and discomfort is independent of the choice to continue or stop disease treatment. People may confuse palliative care with hospice care but they are not the same thing:

Hospice care is usually provided at home or in a special hospice care facility, for patients in their last months of life. It typically requires separate insurance approval. Hospice care will always include palliative care. Hospice almost always favors quality of life over extensive life-prolonging measures.

Palliative care deals with your comfort, no matter what type of treatment (or lack of treatment) you are getting. It can be provided wherever you are treated, e.g., in a hospital or as an outpatient, and should be covered by the same insurance that applies to your ongoing treatment. It it also provided to patients as a fundamental part of hospice care.

Palliative care should be one part of the overall care that your medical team provides. Whether you call it palliative care or simply good care, I think that every patient should report their symptoms of pain and discomfort and be treated for them.