Cancer in a parent: the impact on mother and child. A consultation-liaison clinical case conference.

The following case presents a 31-year-old woman medically hospitalized during a relapse of acute myelocytic leukemia. A consultation-liaison clinical conference focused on the patient's concerns about the effects of her illness on her relationship with her young daughter and its impact on the child's development. The discussion illustrates the consultation-liaison psychiatrist's role in alerting parents to their child's needs and in providing them with tools for effective parenting in a crisis situation such a cancer.