Accompanying Them Home

This book presents a critical exploration of the ethical dimension of hospice palliative care. This account of the ethical agenda was located in the narratives of thirty interdisciplinary hospice palliative care professionals. This profession has developed significantly since the 1980s in Australia, yet broader investigations of the ethics of this practice have not been given sufficient consideration in the growing accumulation of the research literature. This text offers key insights into the ethics of practice, including the changes to the philosophy of care which underpins hospice palliative care, the apparent confusion around a common, shared understanding of the purpose of the practice, and important understandings about the centrality and ethical nature of our caring relationships. These insights and narratives have been formalised into an ethical framework – A Relational Ethic of Accompanying – which can help maintain, sustain and protect the unique identity of the profession. This ethical framework can provide important guidance to palliateurs reflecting on how best to provide quality, compassionate and ethical care at the end of life.