Comfort Care

Comfort care may help relieve the symptoms associated with an advanced illness.

Is comfort care hospice?

According to the National Institute on Aging, comfort care is “an essential part of medical care at the end of life.” It can be provided to someone receiving either hospice or palliative care. The difference is that hospice is comfort care without curative treatment and palliative care is comfort care with curative intent.

Hospice or palliative care offers many seriously ill patients a more dignified alternative to dealing with their serious or advanced illness. If a patient still benefits from treatments intended to cure their disease, they may be eligible to receive palliative care. This type of care is aimed at helping manage the pain and stress associated with dealing with their illness. If a patient has decided to stop receiving curative treatment, hospice care will help manage the symptoms related to their terminal illness but the focus shifts to improving the quality of life for both the patient and their family.

Learn more about the difference between hospice and palliative care.