Possible Underestimation of the Provision of Palliative Care

To the Editor In their Viewpoint, Schenker and Arnold reflect about the currently published American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) guideline that recommends that all patients with advanced cancer should receive palliative care. In doing this, they plead for a public health approach (instead of palliative care by palliative care specialists only) of providing palliative care as a core component of the health care system. We also believe that such an approach is the right way to go. Yet, we also believe that this Viewpoint neglects some important aspects that need to be explored beforehand, for example, whether and when patients in fact receive inadequate palliative care.

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