Tellable and untellable stories in suffering and palliative care

ABSTRACT

The relief of patients’ suffering – both physical and non-physical – is a primary aim of palliative care, and has been described as an obligation and ethical duty for palliative care providers. This paper suggests that common approaches to relieving patients’ non-physical suffering – such as creating opportunities to make meaning, achieve personal growth, and hone one’s resiliencies – comprise the larger, more tellable part of the palliative care discourse. A more marginal, less tellable part of the discourse acknowledges that some non- physical suffering cannot necessarily be relieved. Inspired by Foucauldian writings, this paper suggests that palliative care discourse may be disciplining the relief of non-physical suffering, with unintended ramifications for front-line practice. Making more space for both the tellable and untellable stories of patients’ non-physical suffering holds potential for an evolved palliative care discourse; one that un-disciplines dying.

KEYWORDS:

• Palliative care
• dying
• death
• suffering
• discourse

Acknowledgments

My gratitude to Dr Martha Kuwee Kumsa and Dr Cheryl-Anne Cait for inspiring me to write this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maxxine Rattner

Maxxine Rattner is a doctoral student in the Faculty of Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University, in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. She is also a hospice social worker. Her research interests focus on psychosocial suffering in the context of palliative and end-of-life care: patients’, families’, and clinicians’.