The greatest fear for those facing the end of their life is being alone. Also, caregivers of people with chronic or life-threatening illnesses often feel alone in their struggle to provide good care. Palliative care strives to deal with the many issues surrounding people who face life-threatening illnesses. In the early days of the palliative care movement, the focus was mainly on those dying of cancer. Currently, there is debate as to whether palliative care should expand its mandate to chronic illnesses, as many more people could then benefit from whole-person care.
Palliative care can be helpful at any stage of a life-threatening or chronic illness.
In the old view of medical care, the palliative care team became active when the doctor told the ill person that they could no longer be cured. Today, palliative care therapy works side by side with curative therapy. Palliative care is best managed by a team of healthcare professionals. Not all teams will have all the members, as described below. However, the team members' functions can overlap, especially if there are only a few members on the team.