title: Palliative medicine: providing care when cure is not possible. A roundtable discussion: Part I.
abstract: Palliative medicine describes the care of patients with advanced disease. When cure is no longer possible, the goal becomes control of pain, other symptoms, and psychological distress. In the United States, palliation has been pioneered by the hospice movement for patients with disseminated cancer and AIDS. Palliative care is also appropriate for patients with many of the chronic diseases of aging. For medical, humanitarian, financial, and legal reasons, physicians are being called on to provide palliative care when they make the diagnosis of all illness that is unresponsive to curative treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, USA.
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Burt
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Foley
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Morrison
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000628:therapy; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001293:Attitude to Death; D006801:Humans; D018447:Medical Futility; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States