A Dying Patient

Behaviour of the dying patient.

One hundred and ten dying patients were studied during the 24 hours before death and 250 patients during the weeks before death: 60% were well orientated in time and space 24 hours before death and 26% at 15 minutes before death. A control group of patients with serious, but not fatal, illness were also studied. There was a contrast in attitude to death between the dying patients and the ill bu...

Psychotherapy of the dying patient.

For a long time now the emotional needs of the dying patient have been largely ignored by the medical profession. The literatu.re on the psychological management of the patient with terminal illness is sparse. Such papers that have been written have tended to appear in specialist journals and have not been readily available to the general practitioner-as, for example, those by Weisman and Hacke...

Ethical dilemmas and the dying Muslim patient.

All health care providers may be confronted by a Muslim patient, but many health care professionals are lacking basic knowledge on the Muslim faith and medical ethics based on Islamic law (Shariah). One must endeavour to differentiate between ethnic customs and Islamic tradition. It is important for staff to have a general understanding of the principles of Islamic beliefs and actions to attain...

The houseman and the dying patient.

Pathologic findings in a patient dying with ventricular tachycardia.

I’ this issue of Chest (see page 24), James and MacLean present the pathologic findings in a 17-year-old male athlete with recurrent syncope, documented ventricular tachycardia, and sudden cardiac death. The patient’s brother had a somewhat similar history and also died suddenly. Pathologic examination in the present case revealed some fetal dispersion of the A-V node, a right-sided His bundle,...