Fundación Pro Unidad de Cuidado Paliativo
Cédula Jurídica Número 3-006-127309

On October 1, 1990, Doctor Lizbeth Quesada Tristán successfully created the Unity of Pediatric Palliative Care in the National Children’s Hospital. It was the first of its kind in Costa Rica and Central America, offering care to patients both in the hospital and in their homes.

This entity originated driven to be a protective resource offered to a patient that was facing a painful, terminal cancer, as there existed negativity toward medical personnel who prescribed doses of morphine, such as Dr. Quesada Tristán.

 As a result of morphine scarcity, as well as health professionals not yet brought up to date on pain therapy, morphine doses were often seen as unscientific. However, this resource (morphine) has recourse to and is protected by the right of the patient to die with dignity and without pain. In regard to this matter constitutional law states:

    “All Costa Ricans have the right to a dignified and painless death”

Although the pharmacies are private entities, no Costa Rican pharmacy is allowed to deny a properly prescribed prescription of morphine, if it is in stock, as this would be detrimental to the patient in need of the medicine for pain alleviation.

No pharmacist is allowed to deny the filling of a prescription that adheres to the requirements of the law, even when those prescriptions are for large doses.

This establishment of this resolution marked a milestone in the history of Palliative Care in Costa Rica, to the point that we are able to talk distinctively of ‘before’ and ‘after’ this event. It served to create awareness in the public population, and to make sure that the families of those who confront a terminal illness are able to demand pain control and the appropriate attention from their medical providers or from Social Security.

In July of 1992, the Foundation for the Unity of Palliative Care was born, whose reason for existence was to support the Palliative Care providers in the National Children’s Hospital and other similar medical centers.

In 2006, the Foundation initiated a Master’s program in Palliative Care in conjunction with Catholic University of Costa Rica. This program began to train, formally, health professionals not just from Costa Rica but from all nearby countries of the area.