Stigmas about palliative care are harming our seriously ill patients

Stigmas about palliative care are harming our seriously ill patients
Oncology News Central; by Stephen “Fred” Divers, MD, Chief Medical Officer; Julia Frydman, MD, Medical Director for Palliative Care; 7/10/24
“I wish we had done this sooner.” This is something that we hear a lot from our patients and their families when they finally begin to work with a specialist palliative care team – and not only when they are nearing the end of life. This is equally true when patients’ conditions are curative. ... [Only] a fraction of our patients who would benefit from early palliative care actually get it. In addition to other access barriers, the pervasive misconception remains that palliative care equals hospice.There is an urgent and unmet need to normalize the use of palliative care from the moment of serious illness diagnosis. For that to happen, we need to take a long, hard look at how we can help patients and clinicians overcome pervasive myths.

• Mortality Is the Elephant in the Room ...
• Palliative Care Should Align With Patients' Personal Values ...
• We Need to Eat the Elephant "One Bite at a Time" ...
• Positive Steps Toward Early Adoption of Palliative Care ...
• Improved Reimbursement Options ...
• Statewide Palliative Care Laws ...
• Opioid Legislation ...
• Changing Generational Perspectives ...
• Telemedicine Access ...