Palliative and supportive care: At the frontier of medical omnipotence

Abstract

Cancer patients have physical, social, spiritual and emotional needs. They may suffer from severe physical symptoms, from social isolation and a sense of spiritual abandonment, and emotions such as sadness and anxiety, or feelings of deception, helplessness, anger and guilt. In some of them, the disease is rapidly progressive and they ultimately die. Their demanding care evokes intense feelings in health care providers, the more so since these incurable patients represent a challenge, which can be characterized as one of 'medical onmipotence'. It may be assumed that the way health care providers cope with these circumstances profoundly influences the way these patients are cared for. Attitudes regarding the emerging heterogeneous movement of palliative and supportive care and its different models of implementation can be viewed from this vantage point. Here we look at these interrelations and discuss the potential pitfalls if they are ignored and remain unexamined.