palliative care

palliative care 1 Medical or comfort care that reduces the severity of a disease or slows its progress rather than providing a cure. For incurable diseases, in cases where the cure is not recommended due to other health concerns, and when the patient does not want to pursue a cure, palliative care is the focus of treatment. For example, if surgery cannot be performed to remove a tumor, radiation treatment might be tried to reduce the tumor’s rate of growth, and pain management could help the patient manage physical symptoms. 2 In a negative sense, provision of only perfunctory health care when a cure is possible.