PALLIATIVE AND SUPPORTIVE CARE - AT THE FRONTIER OF MEDICAL OMNIPOTENCE

Cancer patients have physical, social, spiritual and emotional needs. They may suffer from severe physical symptoms, from social isolation a nd a sense of spiritual abandonment, and emotions such as sadness and anxiety, or feelings of deception, helplessness, anger and guilt. In s ome of them, the disease is rapidly progressive and they ultimately di e. Their demanding care evokes intense feelings in health care provide rs, the more so since these incurable patients represent a challenge, which can be characterized as one of 'medical omnipotence'. It may be assumed that the way health care providers cope with these circumstanc es profoundly influences the way these patients are cared for. Attitud es regarding the emerging heterogeneous movement of palliative and sup portive care and its different models of implementation can be viewed from this vantage point. Here we look at these interrelations and disc uss the potential pitfalls if they are ignored and remain unexamined.