Professional paper
WHY DID ALL FAMILY MEMBERS ABANDON THIS MAN?
Danijela Daus-Šebeđak
; Specijalistička ordinacija obiteljske medicine Danijela Daus Šebeđak
Abstract
Alcoholism is a major public health problem in modern society. There is 6% of alcoholics in Croatia while 15% of adult men drink excessively. A
patient, 65-year-old alcoholic with severe, untreated multiple mental, physical and social problems is presented. Injuries such as fractures of upper arm and hip were frequent physical consequences. He lost his family home, separated from his wife, his son is divorced, frequently hospitalized for PTSD, and is not willing to accept his father to live
with him. Three of his grandchildren undertook the wrong way in their lives (two of them were institutionalized, and a 17-year-old granddaughter abandoned school). His brother, with sensomotor
aphasia after a stroke, refused to accept him in his suburban house, which is currently rented. Last summer the patient was found asleep in front of the dispensery in a poor condition, and compulsorily hospitalized. After he spent 15 days in a psychiatric ward for “social reasons” the patient was placed in foster care. Family medicine is ideal for the management of alcoholism. Interventions in reduction/cessation
of heavy drinking in primary care are as effective as in specialized institutions. Stigmatization and consequential social discrimination of alcoholics is still present what is the reason for family doctors to
implement antistigmatic programs.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
157259
URI
Publication date:
5.5.2016.
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