The ethical nature of total care: a hermeneutic reconstruction of Cicely Saunders' perspective.

Care has become a key concept in the theoretical literature in nursing and various health professions. However, while there is generally an agreement on the purposes of care, the same cannot be said about the nature of care. Clarifying this point is fundamental to analyzing and understanding the conceptual and ethical presuppositions of medical science and healthcare professions and to determining what to focus on to improve the quality of care. In this sense, important help comes from the discipline of palliative care. For the first time in the debate about caring, Cicely Saunders introduced the concept of 'total care.' The perspective of the Hospice Movement's founder is stimulating, even if methodologically complex, precisely because Sauders' thought does not have an exclusively speculative character. However, her writings are deeply imbued, even if not explicitly thematized, with philosophical elements, particularly a practical philosophy that arises from experience and is fascinating precisely because it challenges the traditional thought to imagine new hermeneutic horizons. Thus, the first aim of this paper is to connect these philosophical elements and to propose a critical reconstruction, analysis, commentary, and interpretation of the concept of total care in Saunders' writings. The second objective will be to propose a reflection on the meaning of care, clarifying its profound ethical nature as an act that discerns the best and most appropriate way of being and acting for both the patient and the doctor.