As primary care physicians, we diagnose and give the appropriate cure for every disease; but as family medicine specialists, we are best at doing more. We treat not only the disease but also identify the biopsychosocial needs of the patients and their families, highlighting family functions and psychodynamics through the course of an illness. One of the challenging aspects is providing care for a terminally ill elderly patient. We cannot avoid the initial experience of equating cancer with death, evoking anxiety and depression to the patient and the family. In these circumstances, our specialty plays a greater role in providing understanding, guidance and support in the multidimensional realms of end-of-life. It is through physical, psychosocial and spiritual preparedness that one is able to respond and accept death as a reality. This family case management report aims to present the biomedical and psychosocial care to a dying patient and her family. Specifically, it aims to: a) determine the needs of the cancer patient using the biopsychosocial model, b) analyze the family psychodynamics, impact of illness, and their functional adaptation to unexpected changes using the S-T-F-R-E-D system, c) discuss the terminal phase and quality of death of the patient using the hospice care approach and d) define, review, and present bereavement and bereavement care rendered to the family.
Human ; Female ; Aged ; Attitude To Death ; Death ; Patient Care Planning ; Family