title: Palliative care and pediatric surgery.
abstract: Pediatric surgeons can play an important role in offering procedures that may improve the quality of life for terminally ill children. As with all palliative interventions, surgical therapies should be evaluated in the context of explicitly defined treatment goals while weighing the risks and benefits of procedures in the context of a shortened life span. It is essential that pediatric surgeons become active members in the multidisciplinary team that provides palliative care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232-2730, USA.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shelton
authors.forename: Gretchen Purcell
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Jackson
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D016638:Critical Illness; D005774:Gastrostomy; D006801:Humans; D007442:Intubation, Intratracheal; D010166:Palliative Care; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D018700:Pleurodesis; D011368:Professional-Family Relations; D011379:Prognosis; D011788:Quality of Life; D016414:Resuscitation Orders; D013727:Terminal Care; D014139:Tracheostomy