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 what is active treatment of patients with 
  incurable disease  ? 
 i believe that it is not limited to the care of the patients symptoms , but goes further . 
 we can and must control pain , breathlessness , nausea and vomiting , intestinal obstruction , insomnia  but something else remains for us to face , something paradoxically made more evident by the absence of symptoms : the patients emotional suffering , suffering deep in their heart , the most hidden , but which becomes apparent in the season of death . 
 so , what can we do ? 
 we must be able to understand their needs and to stay with them , protecting the uniqueness of their person in the face of an imminent death . 
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