Care of the Young Patient Who Is Dying

Abstract

Death, a universal human experience and one of the commonest clinical syndromes, is rarely mentioned in medical teaching and is avoided in textbook discussions. The complete physician must be able to treat the dying so that his therapeutic management can be of maximum benefit. He should be able to cope understandingly with the normal, age-appropriate emotional reactions which will complicate his treatment procedures. In this brief presentation, I highlight some of the usual reactions to death in the child, the adolescent, and the young adult— reactions which the doctor should anticipate in his young patients, their families, his staff, and himself.