Due respect and professional care in death

Abstract

The Royal College of Physicians' Palliative Care Services: Meeting the Needs of Patients and the Department of Health's End of Life Care Strategy are important reports that signify a national and international determination to address the needs of people who are nearing their time of dying, and their families, with positive, well-informed professionalism. Despite the advances of medicine and improved social conditions, death will eventually supervene. Psychiatrists and other mental health workers encounter death, in anticipation of its coming and in its aftermath. They need to be aware of developments in the field of end-of-life care and contribute to developments which are occurring, as well as learn and assimilate better practices.