What Are the Benefits of Palliative Care?

Palliative care, or care designed to minimize a patient’s suffering related to a chronic or incurable disease, can be very beneficial to patients and their loved ones. For patients, this type of care increases their level of comfort and, in turn, their quality of life. When patients are in less pain, they are able to spend more time with their friends and family, which allows loved ones to have a better chance to receive emotional closure before the patient succumbs to their illness.

Keeping the patient as comfortable and pain-free as possible is the primary goal of palliative care. Achieving this may consist of a combination of medications and other therapeutic practices, such as massage therapy. For those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or other ailments that affect respiration, oxygen treatments and breathing exercises can help relieve the discomfort caused by an inability to breathe properly. Pain management may also involve mental activities designed to distract the mind or relax the body.

Although palliative care is not used to treat disease — and does not attempt to cure disease — it is often provided in conjunction with particularly uncomfortable treatments, such as chemotherapy. When patients experience less suffering related to their treatment, they are more likely to follow through with the regimen. For this reason, palliative care may have the added benefit of extending the patient’s life expectancy.

For families and other loved ones of patients, palliative care can help give them more quality time to spend together before saying goodbye. One of the most difficult parts of watching a loved one go through a fatal illness is seeing them in pain. When pain is reduced or entirely removed from the equation, patients are able to better enjoy the amount of time they have left, and in turn, their loved ones can take that time to make happy new memories that they can hold onto after the patients pass away.

In addition to increasing physical comfort, palliative care also focuses on the psychological and spiritual well-being of patients. Those who are nearing the end of their lives, especially when the end has been brought on unexpectedly through disease, often experience a wide range of emotions. These can range from extreme anger to crippling depression. Patients with specific religious preferences may receive counseling from religious leaders, while others may talk to a specialized grief counselor. Psychological counseling is often also available to patients’ family and friends, both to address their own grief and help them learn how to better help their loved ones through this difficult time.