Palliative care in adolescents.
Specialist Palliative Care's involvement in adolescent cancer is relatively new. The challenges are not so much to do with the technicalities of symptom control, but in walking the fine line with patients and families as they wrestle with transitions into an adulthood that will not happen and attempts to pack a lost future into a few months or years whilst coping with arduous and often futile treatments that attempt to buy some more time. The article explores some underlying principles and the model of care that has emerged at this specialist centre for adolescent care.
George
R
R
Department of Oncology, University College London Hospitals Trust & The Palliative Care Centre, Camden Primary Care Trust, 1st Floor Wolfson Building, 48 Riding House St, London W1N 8AA, UK. rob@palliativecare.org.uk
Hutton
Sue
S
D000293:Adolescent; D016497:Adolescent Health Services / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003142:Communication; D003219:Confidentiality; D003657:Decision Making; D030881:Disclosure; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000941:ethics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D014342:Truth Disclosure