The Resurrection-of-the-Dead Syndrome

The purpose of this article is to illustrate some of the psychological responses of key family members toward a patient who has serious medical illness and who has survived beyond the prognosticated time due to heroic intervention of medical technology or due to a new procedure becoming available. The phenomena described have customarily been under the heading of anticipatory grief but in some instances go beyond grief so that, in the mental representation of the family member, the physically sick member is perceived as 'not being alive' and is treated as though he or she were dead. This may lead to covert or overt rejection or actual sabotage of planned treatment for the patient. Recognition of these attitudes may help prevent such final and total rejection of the patient by his family and has broad ramifications as to the actual process of communication of prognosis of the illness to family members.