A panacea of general practice

As a general practitioner with an interest in palliative medicine, occasionally patients with end-stage malignancies are referred to me. For these people the search for a panacea is well and truly over. Rather than searching for a cure for cancer they are now mostly searching for control of their “pain,” with all that that implies. One of my roles is to protect my patients from those peddling a panacea who in the process may impose burdensome costs, be they physical, psychological, or financial. The motives of those selling a “cure” may be altruism or greed, or indeed both.