The surgeon and palliative care: an evolving perspective.

This article examines some of the cognitive and psychologic barriers surgeons possess when attempting to palliate advanced and incurable disease. Despite these barriers, the history of surgery demonstrates numerous eloquent exponents of palliative care philosophy. The considerable body of knowledge and experience in these matters beginning with the work of Dame Cicely Saunders and subsequent medical specialists is presented and offered as a guide for surgeons as their own perspective continues to evolve.