ABSTRACT
This chapter provides guidelines for the non-professional carer and offers practical advice and ideas. It discusses both the meaning of the illness and the place of religious belief in the patient’s life. The patient may be anxious about dying without making peace with God. Most churches have the name and contact details of the minister displayed outside on a notice board so it should be relatively easy to contact a minister from the appropriate denomination. A World Health Organization Expert Committee on Palliative Care stated that patients have the right to expect that their spiritual experiences will be respected and listened to with attention. It has been noted, in various studies over several years, that patients with a strong religious belief maintain their sense of control, hope and the meaning and purpose in life. Suffering is the outcome of desire. If desire had truly been extinguished and the patient had timely wanted nothing, there would have been no suffering.
