Controversies Surrounding the Hopelessly Ill Patient

Dr. Cassem, who acted as Guest Editor for this issue of the Linacre Quarterly , is associate professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, and is a member of the psychiatry staff at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also Faculty Consultant, Center for Law and Health Sciences. Boston University and Director of Residency Training (Psychiatry) at Massachusetts General. Editor's Note: In the years since this article originally appeared, the issues with dealing with terminal illness have only increased. Today one must reasonably ask these questions: How often does our pursuit of care and cure in the face of long odds get in the way of patients and families dealing with the realities of dying? Moreover, how has the depersonalization and fragmentation of medical care contributed to the abandonment of patients at their most vulnerable times? And lastly, do Catholic physicians have something unique and especially beneficial to offer as a remedy? The article first appeared in The Linacre Quarterly (1975). Vol. 42: No. 2, Article 6. Available at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol42/iss2/6 In this article, Dr. Cassem examines the controversies which have arisen in dealing with a “terminal” or “hopelessly ill” patient. Dr. Cassem is a frequent contributor to medical journals, including Critical Care Medicine and the New England Journal of Medicine .