KevinMD May 31, 2024
The application of palliative care to intractable psychiatric disorders has been debated at least since 2010, when a journal article reported that a patient with severe anorexia nervosa died in hospice after being referred there by her psychiatrist. The New York Times published a thought-provoking article earlier this year on the same topic: whether we should ever deem severe, treatment-refractory anorexia incurable and terminal.
Are there incurable psychiatric patients?
Proponents argue that only hubris and false hope on the part of psychiatrists stand in the way. They say we should treat such patients as our colleagues treat medically incurable patients: with palliation and hospice.
This question is vexing enough. But eating disorders are an exception in psychiatry: untreated, they can...
Today's Sponsors
Today's Sponsor