title: Communication as an approach to resolve conflict about the implementation of palliative care.
abstract: The main aim of palliative care is to provide relief from pain and distressing symptoms and to offer psychological and spiritual support to enhance the quality of life. We present a case of an elderly Chinese patient with major depressive disorder who was a doctor himself, and through his experience of treating patients had become afraid about the complications of advanced disease. He wished to forego treatment, which was in conflict with those of his family. This report highlights the role of the palliative medical team in improving outcomes through enabling communication to occur between the family and the patient to achieve the best outcomes. This should lead to better training provision for the involved medical staff.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Integrated Therapy, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zhe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wen-Wu
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Cheng
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003142:Communication; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D017008:Negotiating / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000523:psychology*; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Chinese culture; communication; depressive disorder; ethics; palliative care; patient autonomy