Palliative care

1) Medical or comfort care that reduces the severity of a disease or slows its progress rather than providing a cure.

For incurable diseases, in cases where the cure is not recommended due to other health concerns, and when the patient does not wish to pursue a cure, palliative care becomes the focus of treatment.

For example, if surgery cannot be performed to remove a tumor, radiation treatment might be tried to reduce its rate of growth, and pain management could help the patient manage physical symptoms.

2) In a negative sense, provision only of perfunctory health care when a cure is possible