I t was baroness julia neuberger who described the nhs as a theological institution in the pages of this journal bmj 1999319 1588 9 randall and downies new book in which they argue that end of life care has become overprofessionalised is not so much a philosophy of palliative care as a theological tract in treating the oxford textbook of palliative medicine as a sacred text the . The idea of a philosophy of palliative care emerged with cicely saunders vision for a good death and was developed further with the world health organization who definition of palliative care it is now being applied not only to cancer patients but to all patients in end of life situations as this palliative care approach advances it is important to pause and comment on its effectiveness it is a philosophy of patient care and is therefore open to critique and evaluation using . The philosophy of palliative care critique and reconstruction randall fiona downie r s isbn 9780198567363 kostenloser versand fur alle bucher mit . The philosophy of palliative care critique and reconstruction s c allen view full text statistics from altmetriccom edited by fiona randall r s downie oxford oxford university press 2006 gbp2995 paperback pp 256 isbn 0198567367 relief from suffering has been the primary aim of doctors for centuries yet one of the consequences of the growth and spread of the powerful