Who Can Benefit from Los Angeles Palliative Care?

Palliative care is a specialized type of medical care that is provided to relieve patients of pain, mental stresses, and symptoms of a chronic or life-threatening illness. Contrary to popular belief, palliative care is much different from hospice care, which solely focuses on providing comfort at the end-of-life stage when curative treatments cease to have an effect. Palliative care can be received at any stage of illness, from the time of diagnosis to close to someone’s end of life. Palliative care can be with curative intent and incorporate symptom management at the same time.

Primarily palliative care specialists work with a patient’s primary care provider to better address their needs and manage their symptoms. The help of these palliative care specialists can range from medical (administering pain medicines) to non-medical support (assistance with daily activities).

Who Can Benefit from Palliative Care in Los Angeles?

Palliative care can be catered to patients with a broad range of illnesses such as dementia, stroke, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, cancer, etc. Hospice Patients suffering from serious illnesses can choose to opt for palliative care regardless of their age, disease stage, prognosis, treatment choice, etc. Ideally, it should be opted for early in the treatment phase with life-prolonging and curative therapies.

It is structured to improve the quality of life of the patients and their families and can significantly reduce the physical and mental distress that comes with the course of the disease. It can also help the patients live longer as prolonged survival is linked to enhanced quality of life, effective symptom management and stabilization, and proper administration of disease-directed treatments.