Abstract

SERRATOSA, A.; SANCHEZ, F.  and  GARFIA, A.. Sudden unexpected death at the medical Emergency Service of a patient, treated for anxiety neurosis, who had a heochromocytoma, found at forensic autopsy. Cuad. med. forense [online]. 2002, n.29, pp.45-56. ISSN 1988-611X.

Patients who suffer serious psychiatric problems, and those others whose symptoms are half way between purely emotional disorders and those dependent on somatization of psychological conflicts, make up a group of patients for whom diagnosis requires special attention and effort. The first form a group at high risk of unexpected death from illnesses so common that it is really surprising that they are not diagnosed and treated in time. The second are faced with the difficulty at diagnosis of differentiating between the truly emotional and the somatic, with the secondary danger of obviating the real somatic cause of some clinical state, with symptoms easily labelled as psychological. At times reality asserts itself drastically, and is legally conflictive for the doctor or the hospital team. We present a case of unexpected death, which took place at the Medical Emergency Service, of a patient diagnosed with anxiety neurosis. The forensic autopsy discovered the existence of a pheochromocytoma of the left suprarenal medulla.

Keywords : Sudden unexpected death; Anxiety neurosis; Pheochromocytoma; Forensic autopsy; Medical malpractice.

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