Palliative Care Service

@ Memorial Hermann Medical Center

Palliative Medicine is both a philosophy of care and an organized, highly structured system for delivering care. The goal of Palliative Medicine is to prevent and relieve suffering and support the best possible quality of life for patients facing life-threatening or debilitating illness. The Palliative Care Service is a consult service that evaluates and treats patients requiring palliative care, pain management and/or hospice services. Palliative specialists aid the patient and family through difficult decision-making associated with end-of-life issues.

Palliative care includes non-pharmacological and pharmacological management of difficult-to-treat symptom complexes with the goal of maintaining the patients’ treatment goals and his/her quality of life.

Common Symptom Complexes in Palliative Medicine:

• Pain
• Shortness of Breath
• Constipation
• Chronic Nausea
• Delirium
• Anxiety
• Fatigue

The Palliative Care consult service at Memorial Hermann is staffed  by Dr. Grace Varas.