On the notion of home and the goals of palliative care.

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics
W Dekkers

Abstract

The notion of home is well known from our everyday experience, and plays a crucial role in all kinds of narratives about human life, but is hardly ever systematically dealt with in the philosophy of medicine and health care. This paper is based upon the intuitively positive connotation of the term "home." By metaphorically describing the goal of palliative care as "the patient's coming home," it wants to contribute to a medical humanities approach of medicine. It is argued that this metaphor can enrich our understanding of the goals of palliative care and its proper objectives. Four interpretations of "home" and "coming home" are explored: (1) one's own house or homelike environment, (2) one's own body, (3) the psychosocial environment, and (4) the spiritual dimension, in particular, the origin of human existence. Thinking in terms of coming home implies a normative point of view. It represents central human values and refers not only to the medical-technical and care aspects of health care, but also to the moral context.

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Citations

Aug 26, 2017·International Journal of Older People Nursing·Lotta SaarnioJoakim Öhlén
Jun 20, 2014·Science and Engineering Ethics·Peter NovitzkyBert Gordijn
Oct 27, 2012·Health Care Analysis : HCA : Journal of Health Philosophy and Policy·Elin Palm
Feb 3, 2011·Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy·Rolf Ahlzén
Jan 12, 2011·Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy·Wim Dekkers
Sep 2, 2021·Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing : JHPN : the Official Journal of the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association·Helen Mavis FarrarJennifer K Clark

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