Palliativ vård utvecklades för patienter med cancerdiagnos, och WHO:s definition är sedan 1990 globalt rådande. En ny definition har nu presenterats av International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) i samarbete mellan specialister från 88 länder.

Den största utmaningen med WHO:s definition, menar IAHPC, är att den begränsar palliativ vård till att gälla för problem associerade till livshotande sjukdom snarare än de behov som finns hos patienten.

IAHPC:s definition vänder därför på perspektivet: i stället för att fokusera på diagnos med livshotande sjukdom som tongivande för palliativ vård fokuseras på allvarligt lidandet hos en person med svår sjukdom.

[Redefining palliative care- focusing serious suffering of severe illness]

Palliative care was initially developed for patients with a cancer diagnosis and severe symptoms. Despite the ambition to broaden the palliative care approach to include other groups, patients with cancer are still a majority in specialised palliative care. The broader view and development of palliative care has led to an intense debate on existing definitions. Following a request from The Lancet Commission on global palliative care, the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) has presented a new definition. The proposal was developed in several stages, in collaboration with specialists in palliative care from a total of 88 countries.The IAHPC's definition differs from the WHO's definition in several aspects. Most importantly, the IAHPC's definition takes a reversed perspective and instead of focusing on life-threatening illness as motivating palliative care, the new proposal focuses on serious suffering of a person with severe illness.