Palliative care doesn’t mean a patient is at death’s door. Here’s why
White Coat Black Art26:30What if palliative care was about living better?Palliative care has an image problem.Despite what people think, it's not some kind of "Grim Reaper service," say two of Canada's leading experts in this field of medicine.Ideally, it should focus on improving a patient's quality of life when they are facing a potentially "life-threatening illness," says Dr. Samantha Winemaker who, with researcher Hsien Seow, is on a mission to change the way patients and their physicians think about palliative care."I think people think palliative care is about dying and death, and by accepting it, you're giving up hope," Seow told Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC's White Coat, Black Art. But it's not about giving up on life-extending treatment options, Seow said."Really, when we break ...