Pregnancy care: An apprenticeship for palliative care?

Abstract

The American Board of Medical Specialties has recently recognized palliative medicine as a new subspecialty. Family Medicine was one of 10 specialty boards cosponsoring this certification process. The role of the family physician has many parallels in the care of pregnant and dying patients. The family physician that has provided maternity care can apply his or her experiences to their care of the dying. The reader is invited to consider this possibility as part of an intentional transition to palliative medicine.