The word palliative is derived from the Latin word ”pallium” meaning cloak. Palliative care is the active complete care of patients with life-limiting illnesses (not only cancer) and their families when the disease is not amenable to curative treatments. “Cloaking” or palliating a patient would involve tackling the psychological, social, and spiritual aspects of the disease and its treatment apart from the conventional care for physical symptom relief. Palliative care is a patient-centered approach that emphasizes relief from pain and distress by systematic identification and assessment of problems faced by the patient [Figure 1].[1]
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Sharada Mailankody (2020) studied this question.
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