The alleviation of suffering has always been central to the care of the sick. Yet as medical
technology has advanced and life-sustaining treatments multiplied, medicine's capacity to …

In all of medicine, there is perhaps nothing so distressing as bearing witness to a patient's
suffering, especially if that patient is a child. We want to do everything that we can to avoid or …

Suffering is a ubiquitous yet elusive concept in health care. In a field devoted to the pursuit of
objective data, suffering is a phenomenon with deep ties to subjective experience, moral …

Most pediatric clinicians aspire to promote the physical, emotional, and developmental well-
being of children, hoping to bestow a long and healthy life. Yet, some infants, children, and …

DISCUSSION Personal characteristics and values always influence the integration of
information, an unavoidable form of bias. The impact of this bias, however, may not be …

In pediatric settings, the concept of hope is frequently positioned as a fundamental aspect of
care and at odds with the possibility and proximity of death. This arguably fosters silence …

Child maltreatment and end-of-life care independently represent two of the most emotion-
laden and uncomfortable aspects of pediatric patient care. Their overlap can be uniquely …

Alleviation of suffering is considered to be one of the important goals of medical
interventions. Understanding of what constitutes suffering in children admitted to a pediatric …

Background: For children with life-shortening illness, achieving a “good death” can be a tacit
goal. There is little understanding of how different stakeholders perceive what a “good …

This article argues that while the presence and influence of “futility” as a concept in medical
decision-making has declined over the past decade, medicine is seeing the rise of a new …