[The terminal cancer patient. Problems of medical care and need for improvement]

On the basis of personal experience of many patients affected by neoplastic lesions, the conviction that the assistance provided to a terminal cancer patient in the hospital ward is deficient and takes no account of the medical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of the patient and his family, is expressed. It would be advisable for assistance to terminale patients to be supplied in adequate centres operating on multidepartmental bases, with the participation of experts in antalgic treatment and psychological problems.