Palliative Care Perspectives

"Over the centuries healers have been called upon to palliate, or "make better," myriad afflictions. Only in recent times has the notion arisen that our primary goal is to identify and cure diseases, thereby prolonging life and, presumably, preventing distressing symptoms and associated suffering. The medical advances made in recent decades are indeed so astonishing that one could almost forgive those who would hope that a cure-based medical system might eliminate scourges such as pain, chronic illness, and the debilitations of old age. However, we remain mortal. I recall a scene from Bernado Bertolucci's film Little Buddha in which a child sits with a wise, old monk looking out over a bustling city in Nepal. "What is impermanence?" asks the child. The monk answers, "See these people. All of us and all the people alive today. One hundred years from now we'll all be dead. That is impermanence." Intellectually, I understand the truth of this statement. However that more than 6 billion people will die in a period of 100 years is beyond my comprehension"--