[May you benefit from what you see: A humanistic reflection on the palliative gaze].

Abstract

This essay, written from the clinical experience of a physician specialized in palliative care, reflects on the need to reframe this discipline within both medical practice and social culture. Through a personal lens, and using the lyrics of Spanish singer-songwriter Joaquín Sabina as a guiding thread, it argues that institutional and emotional resistance to palliative care - palliphobia - arises not only from structural barriers, but also from a medical narrative focused almost exclusively on cure. The text underscores the essential role of healthcare professionals in fostering this paradigm shift and the importance of reclaiming person-centered care: a way of seeing, listening, and accompanying, even when cure is no longer possible. Against the backdrop of technological noise and clinical haste, the essay proposes refining our gaze so that, on both sides of the consultation desk, we may rediscover meaning and value in what we see.