The dying child: how is care different?

Abstract

Of children needing palliative care, less than half have a malignancy. Most families will elect to care for their child at home if this is offered as a realistic option. The often protracted and unpredictable nature of the many illness trajectories encountered in paediatric palliative care requires an approach that integrates palliative care with curative care. Children bring added dimensions to the physical, psychosocial and ethical aspects of palliative care. Health professionals from both paediatric and palliative care sectors have skills and knowledge to bring to palliative care of the child.