Hospice care is comprehensive palliative medical care (treatment aimed at reducing or abating pain and other symptoms, rather than treatment aimed at cure) and supportive social, emotional, and spiritual services to the terminally ill and their families, primarily in the patient's home but also in a hospice in-patient facility. Hospice reaffirms the right of every person and family to participate fully in this final stage of life's journey.

The word "hospice" is derived from the Latin hospe, meaning both host and guest. The idea of hospice is rooted in the centuries old idea of offering hospitality to those on a long journey. This concept of providing care, comfort, and aid to travelers can be traced back to Syria in the year 475 A.D.. It was during the Middle Ages, however, that the concept of hospices as way stations for pilgrims and travelers proliferated. By early medieval times, there...