ABSTRACT
Palliative care and ventilator therapy for patients with chronic respiratory disease are by no means mutually exclusive. Indeed, optimal treatment for these patients includes alleviating distressing symptoms and providing support to the patient and family, using an interdisciplinary team. While the focus of this chapter is palliative care for the ventilator patient, it will also discuss the broader areas of palliative care for patients with end-stage lung disease and palliation of pulmonary symptoms in patients with other life-threatening illness.
