DEATHS IN PSYCHIATRIC-CARE

The significance of deaths among psychiatric inpatients has been reviewed in brief and a glimpse of the future suggested by a study of the characteristics of 100 patients dying in a general hospital psychiatric unit. Though suicide was a common cause of death among the few young patients dying, it did not occur among the elderly, who usually died of natural causes. Dementia and depression were more frequent diagnoses than schizophrenia and “other diagnoses” which still dominate mental hospital deaths and very long terminal admissions were unusual. Most patients had been admitted on more than one occasion and had received a great deal of extramural care and treatment—they represent a very disabled group. Multiple physical pathology was identified in many at the time of admission and new pathology arose during admission. Almost half of male deaths were sudden, but women often endured prolonged and distressed deaths and these require enlightened management. Copyright © 1991 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.