Palliative Care in General Practice

The doctor-clown Patch Adams argued that our health care system should not treat the disease, but the patient, in an approach "patient-centered" rather than “disease-centered”. Palliative care is a holistic, patient-centered, and culturally sensitive approach to care. According to the Nobel Prize winner Rita Levi Montalcini, “it’s better to add life to days, rather then days to life”. For those who are dying a good quality of their last days of life is more important rather than prolong unnecessarily the days of the agony. Palliative care focuses on relieving suffering and achieving the best possible quality of life for patients and their family caregivers.