Palliative care is the care that is provided to patients who are chronically or incurably ill. The goal is to relief the symptoms that patients experience, such as pain or distress. Initially, palliative care was provided to terminally ill cancer patients. Lately, however, there has been a shift which means that now a lot of other patients, such as patients suffering from heart failure or COPD, do get a palliative treatment. There has also been a shift in that palliative care providers pay attention to patients with specific cultural and sociodemographic characteristics, such as non-Western immigrants.Studies in non-Western countries have shown that the citizens of these countries have limited choices with regard to getting medication against pain. This is due to poverty. It is also true that family care systems, religious belief and practices and a traditional view on care, may influence the use of palliative care in these countries. Other issues that cultural minorities experience in Western countries could experience are language difficulties, health literacy difficulties or discrimination. The way in which palliative care is available in these Western countries might also be mismatched to the cultural and / or religious background of the non-Western immigrants.A clear example of how these difficulties could work out is as follows: Some muslim patients with incurably life-limiting illnesses who live in Europe often do not like to seek help from professional caregivers or insitutions. They would rather use the care provided by their family and close relatives. This is due to negative experiences with the care services, which could be about the food (such as not taking in account the food that is permitted for them and providing these muslim patients with bacon or experiencing discrimination). These muslim patients are often also concerned about criticism from their community. Some muslim (or other religious) patients might also believe that...