Pediatric Palliative Care

Dr Smriti Khanna is an alumnus of Seth G.S. Medical College, Mumbai and St. Johns Hospital, Bangalore. She has experience in adult and pediatric hemato-oncology. After working with both adults and children in various specialities, she decided to pursue palliative care as it was a subject close to her heart.

She works in the field of both adult and pediatric palliative care. She works with children and adults with malignant or non-malignant conditions.

Qualifications: MBBS, MD (Medicine), MRCP (London), PDCC Hemato-Oncology, BCCPM

Dr Smriti Khanna is a Consultant at the Palliative and Supportive Care Unit of the prestigious Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children, Parel, Mumbai.

She also consults at Sparsh Clinic- Pain and Palliative Care Centre, Borivali West, Mumbai.

Online consultation at Teledoctors

Email: sparshclinicmumbai@gmail.com

Palliative care is care of children who are suffering from a serious life-limiting illness. Illness in a child affects the while family and thus palliative care includes care of child and the family. It is total care and aims at providing an extra layer of support in all dimensions of life- medical, social, spiritual and psychological. It includes the management of distressing symptoms, training caregivers to take care of the child at home, end of life care and bereavement support after death of a child. It focuses on symptoms like pain, breathing difficulty, constipation, fatigue, nausea, depression, anxiety and difficulty sleeping.

Any child with a life-limiting or a life-threatening condition can benefit from pediatric palliative care. Some examples are: cancer, cerebral palsy, congenital heart disease, developmental conditions, cystic fibrosis, juvenile diabetes and many more. Palliative care is aimed at both children and their families.

If you or your child has be diagnosed with a serious, life threatening illness, you can ask for palliative care at any time during the illness, although the earlier the better. Palliative care can be given at any point in the disease trajectory- at diagnosis, along with other medical and surgical curative therapies, and even after curative treatment is no longer an option. The palliative care physician works with your primary care physician, and with a team of nurses, physiotherapists and psychologists to identify and carry out the child's goals of care.

Absolutely. The decision to access palliative care is completely individual. Children and their families differ with respect to decision making about the illness, and in each situation care can be tailored accordingly. It is important that children and famillies feel in control throughout the illness trajectory, and palliative care aims to achieve that.