PEDIATRICS Vol. 71 No. 3 March 1983, pp. 443-445
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow E-mail this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My File Cabinet
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by WESSEL, M. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by WESSEL, M. A.

The Primary Physician and the Death of a Child in a Specialized Hospital Setting

MORRIS A. WESSEL MD1

1 New Haven, Connecticut

Pediatricians offer ongoing comprehensive and coordinate care for children. Community-based primary pediatricians assume a large proportion of this repsonsibility, referring a few patients to collegues with specialized skills for consultation and treatment. These consultants, who are often fulltime members of university or other medical centers, provide care extending the lives of many children suffering illnesses that formerly were fatal early in the course of the disease. Some infants and children unfortunately do die after many months or years of treatment at a specialized clinic or hospital service. When this tragedy occurs, parents and siblings have the difficult task of relinquishing their relationship to hospital physicians, nurses, and social workers who have sustained them for many months or years.