title: [Palliative care: interfaces, conflicts and necessities].
abstract: The kind of care delivered to patients with advanced and terminal diseases has been under intense debate in the specialized literature. This paper describes and analyzes, on the basis of a bibliographic review, medical care practices at the end of life, with special emphasis to palliative care, a model expanding worldwide. It analyzes, from the perspective of bioethics, some morally relevant aspects involving these practices, that tend to conflict among themselves. Specifically in the field of palliative care the paper emphasizes certain difficulties and challenges involving autonomy, considered one of the cornerstones of good end of life care practices.
authors.affiliation: Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 21041-210. ciroafloriani@terra.com.br
authors.forename: Ciro Augusto
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Floriani
authors.forename: Fermin Roland
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Schramm
mesh_terms: D016223:Advance Directives; D005065:Euthanasia; D017051:Hospice Care; D006801:Humans; D008020:Life Support Care; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000941:ethics*; D017236:Suicide, Assisted