ABSTRACT
If the patient is visible to other patients, their reactions to his last weeks and days must be taken into account, particularly insofar as they may see his dying as a rehearsal of their own. By the last days of an extremely slow trajectory, virtually everybody may be fairly well “grieved out,” especially if the patient’s social loss is relatively low. During Patient’s last weeks and days, the patient is much more likely than his family to be the center of the staff’s attention, unless he is comatose, scarcely sentient, or so ill as hardly to be reacting as a person. If the last days stretch into last weeks, the staff can sustain the relatives’ acceptance by displaying equanimity and by giving undiminished comfort care to the patient. Ulterior motives may be involved in the staff’s granting of licensed behavior.
