EXPERTS IN PALLIATIVE CURES MEET IN THE VATICAN

VATICAN CITY, NOV 9, 2004 (VIS) - This morning Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry, presented the 19th International Conference sponsored by his dicastery which this year is on the theme "Palliative Cures." It will take place November 11-13 in the Vatican.

  Bishop Jose Luis Redrado Marchite, O.H., Fr. Felice Ruffini, M.I., respectively secretary and undersecretary of the dicastery, accompanied Cardinal Barragan. Dr. Vittorina Zagonel, a specialist in oncology and hematology, Dr. Simona Castellano, an expert in physical therapy, and Dr. Maurizio Evangelista, a researcher from the Institute of Anesthesia, Rehabilitation and Pain Therapy in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at Sacred Heart Catholic University in Rome, also participated in the conference.

   Six hundred and fifty people from 73 countries, including important specialists in the field of palliative cures from Asia, America, Europe and Africa, will participate in the conference.

  In the first part of the congress, participants will discuss the scientific study of palliative cures, which the cardinal defined as "the treatment of pain," the legal aspects of these cures, and euthanasia. Later, they will address the topic of faith and secularization in the last stage of life, proportionate and disproportionate cures, and anger management. Participants will also look at how non-Christian religions such as Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and New Age, see palliative cures.

  The last part of the meeting will be dedicated to discussion about the direction in which medical research is going, the role of psychological sciences in palliative cures, a new cultural approach to the end of life, training for health care workers who administer palliative cures, the portrayal of the end of life in the mass media, the pastoral training in palliative cures of health care workers, and updating for doctors, nurses, religious, psychologists, social workers and volunteers.
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