Hospice and palliation in the English-speaking Caribbean.

This article presents empirical data on the limited availability of hospice and palliative care to the 6 million people of the English-speaking Caribbean. Ten of the 13 nations therein responded to a survey and reported employing a total of 6 hospice or palliative specialists, and having a total of 15 related facilities. The evolving socioeconomic and cultural context in these nations bears on the availability of such care, and on the willingness to report, assess, and prioritize pain, and to prescribe opiates for pain.