Palliative care is care aimed at relieving suffering and accompanying the dying when cure is no longer possible. It affirms personhood until the last moment and safeguards the dignity of the dying.
In contrast to euthanasia, palliative care does not dispose of the life of the person, but accompanies the natural process of dying. It is an expression of the Personalist Norm: the dying human being is to be affirmed and cared for for their own sake, not given up as a “hopeless case.”
As a form of medical care, palliative care is an interpersonal relation between caregiver and patient. It is realized as a genuine encounter between persons, in which the uniqueness and dignity of the dying are recognized. Karol Wojtyła sees in the care of the dying a particular form of love that affirms the personhood of the other to the very end.
Palliative care stands in opposition both to euthanasia and to assisted suicide: whereas these judge the life of the person to be “no longer worth living,” palliative care recognizes the value of life up to its natural end.
Ontological classification
Superordinate concepts: Medical Care, Interpersonal Relation
Chapter assignment: Chapter 4: What Is Human Personhood? (German)
Sources: Generated by querying the Personhood ontology. Bexten 2017, pp. 293 ff. (oblivion of the person and its practical consequences).
Further sources:
- Bexten, Raphael E. (2017): Was ist menschliches Personsein?, p. 293 ff. (Oblivion of the person and its practical consequences).
See also
- Irreversible Loss of Brain Function
- Mechanical Life Support
- Euthanasia
- Death
- Suffering
- Personhood
- Dignity
- Total Pain — Saunders’ four dimensions of the suffering of dying
- Hospice — institutional embodiment of holistic accompaniment of the dying
- Phases of Dying — clinical phases of the dying process
- Cicely Saunders — founder of the modern hospice movement
- Karol Wojtyła