What is Palliative Care?

If you watch any newsreel of trauma or disaster, you will surely see somewhere a First Responder or volunteer draping a blanket over injured, wearied, or shell-shocked victims. There is something healing in the simple act of draping this cloak around someone. The word "palliative" comes from palliare - the Latin word for "cover" or "cloak." Palliative care extends the same comfort to patients that the ubiquitous blanket does for disaster victims. Palliative care is the mana...