Dying in the psychiatric ward

General hospital staff is experienced in dealing with the death of a patient. However, aside from cases of sudden death among psychiatric inpatients, psychiatric medical staff faces such situations considerably less frequently. Many chronic psychiatric patients do not have a family or home, a situation which may become even more painful if the patient is dying of a physical illness. Coping with a terminally-ill oncology patient is a difficult task for the multidisciplinary staff and for fellow patients in chronic care psychiatric departments. The authors describe the slow deterioration of two psychiatric inpatients who were also diagnosed with advanced cancer, and present the dilemmas involved with continued treatment of terminal oncology patients in a psychiatric ward when the psychiatric status no longer warranted inpatient psychiatric care.