Palliative Care in Costa Rica

Abstract

In Costa Rica, during the last three decades it has been possible to develop various
palliative care programs, both public and private, within the Social Security as well
as through non-profit non-governmental organizations, respectively; being considered
within the group of countries with greater development reached in Latin America. There
is a legislature on the matter since 1994, through the resolution of an appeal filed
before the Constitutional Chamber, which guarantees the right to Palliative Care for
the inhabitants of the national territory. Likewise, other laws have been approved such
as: Law 8600 of benefits for those responsible for patients in the terminal phase, being
the only Latin American country with this legislature. In addition, since 2008 there is
a National Council of Palliative Care, composed of representatives and alternates
of social actors of organizations that are related to Palliative Care, and its role is to advise the State on Palliative Care. The objective of this work is to present the historical development of palliative care in Costa Rica.