Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Palliative Care, Toward a More Responsive Definition

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Textbook of Palliative Care

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) definition of palliative care requires clarification. While it has been interpreted as limiting its purview to people facing life-threatening illness, this definition makes little sense in low- and middle-income countries where the means to prevent and relieve any suffering are limited, including in people without a life-threatening illness. The most basic principle of palliative care, prevention and relief of suffering, requires that palliative care conform to the needs of the people it serves.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Fallon M, Smyth J. Terminology: the historical perspective, evolution and current usage – room for confusion? Eur J Cancer. 2008;44:1069–71.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gwyther L, Krakauer EL. WPCA policy statement on defining palliative care. London: Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance; 2011. http://www.thewhpca.org/resources/item/definging-palliative-care.

  • Hui D, De La Cruz M, Mori M, et al. Concepts and definitions for “supportive care,” “best supportive care,” “palliative care,” and “hospice care” in the published literature, dictionaries, and textbooks. Support Care Cancer. 2013;21:659–85.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knaul FM, Farmer PE, Krakauer EL, et al. On behalf of the lancet commission on palliative care and pain relief study group. Alleviating the access abyss in palliative care and pain relief: an imperative of universal health coverage. Lancet. 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32513-8.

  • Krakauer EL. Just palliative care: responding responsibly to the suffering of the poor. J Pain Symptom Manag. 2008;36:505–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krakauer EL, Penson PT, Truog RD, et al. Sedation for intractable distress of a dying patient: acute palliative care and the principle of double effect. Oncologist. 2000;5:53–62.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krakauer EL, Kwete X, Verguet S, et al. Palliative care and pain control. In: Jamison DT, Gelband H, Horton S, Jha P, Laxminarayan R, Mock CN, Nugent R, editors. Disease control priorities, 3rd edition, volume 9: improving health and reducing poverty. Washington, DC: World Bank; 2018. p. 235–46. Available at: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/28877/9781464805271.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y.

  • MacMahon H. Widening the definition of palliative care. Int J Palliat Nurs. 2011;17:203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pastrana T, Jünger S. A matter of definition – key elements identified in a discourse analysis of definitions of palliative care. Palliat Med. 2008;22:222–32.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shulman LN, Mpunga T, Tapela N, Wagner CM, Fadelu T, Binagwaho A. Bringing cancer care to the poor: experiences from Rwanda. Nat Rev Cancer. 2014;14:815–21.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Van Mechelen W, Aertgeerts B, De Ceulaer K, et al. Defining the palliative care patient: a systematic review. Palliat Med. 2012;27:197–208.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization (WHO). WHO Definition of Palliative Care. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization (WHO). World health assembly resolution 67.19: strengthening of palliative care as a component of comprehensive care throughout the life course. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2014. http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA67/A67_R19-en.pdf.

  • World Health Organization (WHO). World Health Assembly Resolution 69.24: strengthening integrated, people-centred health services. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2016a.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization (WHO). Framework on integrated, people-centred health services. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2016b.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Associate Professor of Medicine and of Global Health & Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Eric L. Krakauer

  2. Center for Palliative Care, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Eric L. Krakauer

  3. Division of Palliative Care & Geriatrics, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Eric L. Krakauer

  4. Department of Palliative Care, University of Medicine & Pharmacy, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Eric L. Krakauer

Authors
  1. Eric L. Krakauer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eric L. Krakauer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. HammondCare Learning and Research Centre, Greenwich Hospital, Greenwich, New South Wales, Australia

    Roderick Duncan MacLeod

  2. Vrije Universiteit Brussel, VUB-UGent End-of-Life Care Research Grou Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Lieve Van den Block

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Krakauer, E.L. (2018). Palliative Care, Toward a More Responsive Definition. In: MacLeod, R., Van den Block, L. (eds) Textbook of Palliative Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31738-0_1-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31738-0_1-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-31738-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-31738-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation