  We use effective hadronic field theory to study in-medium properties of the
$\phi$ meson. The dominant decay channels $\phi\toK^{+}K^{-}$ and
$\phi\to\pi\rho$ are modeled using an SU(3) chiral Lagrangian with normal and
abnormal parities. The $\phi$ self-energy is approximated to one-, two-, and
even three-loop order in the strong coupling. Effects of modified spectral
functions for $\pi$, $K$, $\rho$ and $\phi$ are also included in the
calculation. This allows us to study in-medium decay of phi mesons into
(in-medium) kaon-pair daughters and (in-medium) $\pi\rho$ pairs. The results
point to the possibility of rather short-lived $\phi$'s, short enough to decay
inside the fireball in relativistic heavy ion collisions. Implications relevant
for the NA49 and NA50 experimental results, recently dubbed the ``$\phi$
puzzle'', are discussed.
