Why palliative care? 
And so there we have it in a nutshell--palliative care is about caring.  Caring for those who are dying and for those who look after them and then grieve their loss.  Palliative care has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of neglect and bad management which, until recently, had been the lot of the dying.  Perhaps this new specialty may become a guiding beacon leading a profession, somewhat bewitched and side tracked by its own scientific cleverness, back to the road of caring.  I sincerely hope that as the specialty gains recognition it does not lose its present identify and fine sense of purpose.