A carta reavida: o lugar do analista e a prática em cuidados paliativos.

This paper reflects on the place that the analyst can occupy in cases of end-of- -life care patients at the hospital setting. The possibility of imminent death in this type of care fatally embodies the encounter with the real as impossible, the motto of psychoanalysis in any circumstance. Based on the case report of a patient's last day of life, the article emphasizes the effects made possible by a psychoanalytical listening, insofar as it gave room to the anguishes and desires of subjects involved, concluding on the importance of such an listening against that provided by the medical team. In discussing palliative care, it both underlines the professionals' difficulties in dealing with patient death, and problematizes the impasses posed by the lack of integration of this practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]