Journal
CIENCIA & SAUDE COLETIVA
Volume 18, Issue 9, Pages 2541-2548Publisher
ABRASCO
DOI: 10.1590/S1413-81232013000900008
Keywords
Palliative care; End of life; Care; Medicalization
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This paper analyzes the palliative care of terminal patients, examining the tensions between the humanization of care and the progressive medicalization at the end-of-life situation. The research upon which the article is based adopts a qualitative methodological approach derived from interviews with professionals and patients and ethnographic observations in a palliative care unit in the City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The article describes the configuration of personalized and comprehensive health care based on the core values of more humanized end-of-life care promoted by palliative care supporters. Similarly, the paper analyzes how these practices are assisted by progress in the medicalization process in which the dimension of care is considered less an unprofessional area of medical practice than an area of care in which specific technical skills and know-how are employed. The articles explores how instead of being divergent, the logic of care and medicalization work in a complementary fashion.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available