The Final Frontier: Palliative Care in Space is an Inevitability

Abstract

As space exploration becomes increasingly common, palliative care for astronauts will require greater consideration. All aspects of palliative care need to be specifically adapted for astronauts. For example, addressing additional circumstances such as inability to see loved ones from Earth will be an important part of meeting their psychological and spiritual needs. A different approach to pharmacological management of end-of-life symptoms is also warranted due to changes in human physiology and pharmacokinetics in space.

Geriatric Space Travel©

“…Increased cellular turnover observed in bacteria and mammalian cells (e.g. osteoblasts) brings into question broader aging and cancer considerations; cells affected by the environment of altered gravity may also be provoked by increased radiation exposure [36][37][38]. This perhaps couples poorly with the possibility of weak B-Cell surveillance creating a form of immuno-suppression, worsened by their misfunction due to changes in lymphatic fluid dynamics [36][37][38].…”

“…There is of course, with any aging population, the inevitably to consider palliative care requirements in an off-Earth space setting. Unlike older populations on Earth where the conversations about resource allocation is not one currently considered (in most Western nations), this may become an issue which future space bound clinicians may be forced to discuss [39].…”