- Akira Katsuki: Dept. of Psychiatry, Kyoto University Hospital, Japan.
In Japan, Palliative Care Teams became eligible for health insurance coverage in 2002. Cancer is the principal cause of death in Japan, and over 90% of cancer patients die at hospitals. However, health care professionals are not yet very accustomed to facing dying patients, but need to do so especially in palliative care. Three cases are introduced to show our practice as a palliative care team from a psychiatric point of view and make you reconsider the necessity of organized care for cancer patients and liaison-psychiatric service by means of palliative care.