Perinatal palliative care (PPC) is a completely new field of pediatric palliative care. PPC applies to situations where a prenatal diagnosis suggests that a fetus has a serious, untreatable illness. PPC begins during the pregnancy and continues through the labour, and after the baby is born.

Our actions always support life – no matter how long it is going to be. In many cases, children with life-threatening conditions are treated with unnecessarily harsh medical procedures. Home based PPC is an alternative for families that want to protect their child from suffering these risky and harrowing medical procedures. When a life threatening disorder is identified in perinatal care, parents are advised to discuss palliative care before labor. Procedures that follow the birth of the child are the result of the parent’s decisions and consultative specialists. Multidisciplinary care is offered by the home hospice team to provide families a compassionate and supportive environment in order to help their child live as fully as possible until death occurs.

The main aim of this project is to improve the of availability of PPC by establishing perinatal hospices. Our specific goal is to extend care to more patients and children in need, and to increase care before labor.