Painting and Poetry From a Bereaved Family and the Caring Physician

This is a case description and personal account shared by a palliative care physician whose team provided specialist palliative care support to a patient who attempted immolation. This case depicts a family at risk of complicated grief due to the violent nature of self-inflicted burns and the lingering social stigmatization of suicide. Here, we explore important psycho-emotional considerations and share our experience using art and poetry to build therapeutic connections with the grieving family. J Pain Symptom Manage 2023;65:e503-e506. (c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Automated summary

This is a case study and personal account written by a palliative care physician who provided specialized support to a patient who attempted self-immolation. The case highlights the risk of complicated grief faced by the patient's family due to the violent nature of the burns and the social stigma surrounding suicide. The article explores the use of art and poetry to establish therapeutic connections with the grieving family.