Rethinking suffering in childhood cancer: toward an expanded framework for pediatric palliative care

Suffering is frequently invoked in pediatric oncology to justify difficult clinical decisions, yet the concept of suffering remains poorly defined in medicine. This scholarly project examines how suffering is understood across bioethics literature, pediatric palliative care scholarship, and philosophical accounts of suffering. By synthesizing these perspectives, this work seeks to clarify the concept of suffering in childhood cancer and offer clinicians a more coherent approach to navigating ethically complex clinical scenarios.