Geriatrics
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Palliative medicine describes the care of patients with advanced disease. When cure is no longer possible, the goal becomes control of pain, other symptoms, and psychological distress. ⋯ Palliative care is also appropriate for patients with many of the chronic diseases of aging. For medical, humanitarian, financial, and legal reasons, physicians are being called on to provide palliative care when they make the diagnosis of all illness that is unresponsive to curative treatment.