Controversies in terminal cancer care

In the long term, about 75% of all cancer patients will need palliative care, but the curricula in courses of study leading to qualifications in the caring professions take no account of this, being concerned exclusively with curative strategies. Precise definition of palliative care as a medical discipline is needed, followed by an insistence on proper funding and instruction. In addition, palliation should be integrated into the early stages of patient contact, e.g., prevention, diagnosis, treatment planning, and not only implemented when attempts at curative therapy have failed. Public and political awareness must be promoted; in particular it should be recognized that the care givers themselves need support. There is a growing need for well-run hospices with purpose-trained staff. While "mercy killing" might be considered out of charity and humanity, the death of a terminally ill patient should be neither hastened nor postponed.