Editing Terminal illness (section)

=== Palliative care ===
Palliative care focuses on addressing patients' needs after disease diagnosis. While palliative care is not disease treatment, it addresses patients' physical needs, such as pain management, offers emotional support, caring for the patient psychologically and spiritually, and helps patients build support systems that can help them get through difficult times. Palliative care can also help patients make decisions and come to understand what they want regarding their treatment goals and quality of life.<ref name="Buss-2017">{{Cite journal|last1=Buss|first1=Mary K.|last2=Rock|first2=Laura K.|last3=McCarthy|first3=Ellen P.|date=2017-02-01|title=Understanding Palliative Care and Hospice: A&nbsp;Review for Primary Care Providers|journal=Mayo Clinic Proceedings|volume=92|issue=2|pages=280–286|doi=10.1016/j.mayocp.2016.11.007|pmid=28160875|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Palliative care is an attempt to improve patients' [[Quality of life (healthcare)|quality-of-life]] and comfort, and also provide support for family members and carers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/palliative-care|title=Palliative care|last=Australia|first=Healthdirect|date=2019-10-31|website=www.healthdirect.gov.au|access-date=2020-01-22}}</ref> Additionally, it lowers hospital admissions costs. However, needs for palliative care are often unmet whether due to lack of government support and also possible [[Palliative care#Acceptance|stigma]] associated with palliative care. For these reasons, the World Health Assembly recommends development of palliative care in health care systems.<ref name="Lima-2016a"/>

[[Palliative care]] and [[hospice]] care are often confused, and they have similar goals. However, hospice care is specifically for terminal patients while palliative care is more general and offered to patients who are not necessarily terminal.<ref name="Smith-2014">{{Cite journal|last1=Smith|first1=Samantha|last2=Brick|first2=Aoife|last3=O'Hara|first3=Sinéad|last4=Normand|first4=Charles|date=2014-02-01|title=Evidence on the cost and cost-effectiveness of palliative care: A literature review|journal=Palliative Medicine|volume=28|issue=2|pages=130–150|doi=10.1177/0269216313493466|pmid=23838378|s2cid=206488146|issn=0269-2163|url=https://issuelab.org/resources/18050/18050.pdf }}</ref><ref name="Buss-2017"/>