The issue of life-ending has been a source of considerations since the dawn of civilization, and calls for great circumspection when one attempts to fit it socially throughout the history of human thinking. The development and improvement of Medicine might modify, in most cases, the natural history of disease. We have managed to prolong life and the process of dying. This has created a new medical prototype that needs to care for terminally-ill patients, a situation often accompanied by severe suffering. Society attributes to the physician the role of being responsible for conquering and overcoming death. In the oncology context, these questions are well addressed, as in many situations there is no possibility to offer a curative treatment to the patients. The objective of the present study was to discuss the relations that guide the proposed theme, based on a medical literature review. Therefore, a perspective is sought as an argumentative alternative that brings evidence to the proposed debate.
Neoplasms; physicians; treatment withdrawal; palliative care