Question

(1) What is the difference between hospice and palliative care?

(2) What is your view on hospice and/or palliative care?

(3) What is your view on euthanasia?

(4) Do you have an advanced directive, living will or power of attorney?

Answer 1

Hospice care is act of providing care to the patient who s suffering from an incurable disease or prognosis of the disease is poor. It is started when the main treatment of the disease is stopped. It emphasises mainly on minimising suffering and pain of the patient.
whereas palliative care also works on the same concept but it starts right from the diagnosis of disease and runs along with main treatment. It basicaly focuses on improving quality of life of both patient and family.

2. In my viewpoint, these both services are as important as the main treatment. It focuses on provision of comfort to the patient. As while recieving treatment as well, patient undergoes lot of physical and psychological stress, to which these services address effectively. It provides human component to the painful treatment.

3. Euthanasia is also called mercy killing in which a patient suffering from incurable disease or in the last stage is put to death either by withholding treatment or artificial life support.

in my viewpoint, it is unethical as one can not make a patient free from all sufferings. Although physicaly, we are seeing a dead person to be free of sufferings but as a soul, he can be suffering. There are certain karmic accounts which have to be completed by every soul. They cant be left uncleared. So its better not to interfere in the process of dying.

4. I dont have any of them as this is not much practised in india

3.