comfort care

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Comfort care, also called palliative care, is medical care designed not to cure, but to reduce a patient’s pain and keep him or her comfortable. This kind of medical care focuses on the patient’s quality of life, usually toward his or her end of life. As explained by The National Institute on Aging, a patient can receive palliative care along with treatment intended to cure their serious illness(es). Also, the patient receives palliative care from a palliative care team, a team of different professionals, that provide medical, social, emotional, and practical support.

[Last updated in June of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]