Lorenzo Berra, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; Raffaele Donini, Coordinator of the Health Commission of the Conference of Regions; Maurizio Marzegalli, Vice President Fondazione Maddalena Grassi, Milan. Introduced by Marco Maltoni, Director of the Romagna Palliative Care Unit, Forlì.

Even in a relationship of care, as in the rest of life, one can bluff. Whoever is ill can pretend not to be ill, whoever is caring can pretend that the illness and suffering of the other does not concern them. The gaze of pain is too hard to bear? And then what? How long does this bluff last? And what is the point? Those who can (the caregiver) flee away and those who cannot (the sick person and his family) resist and resign themselves or, in modern terms, may seek new forms of escape. That is all. The core issue is avoided. Is there room in the caring relationship for a ‘passion for the person’? A passion that caregivers wish not only for their patients, but also for themselves? Is there room for a desire for Infinite perforating the blanket of hypocrisy or despair? Is there room for a personal journey leading from the natural and legitimate unacceptability of suffering and dependence, to the expression of a cry that needs to find an answer to live? The guests will share their own human and professional experience of companionship in the common search, both for those who cure and those who are cured, for the adequate attitude to face life and pain.